Griffith College Templeogue lost out to NUIG Mystic in Division One basketball final
There was disappointment for the Griffith College Templeogue women’s basketball team at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght earlier today as they lost out 68-35 to NUIG Mystic in the InsureMyHouse.ie Division One National Cup final.
Despite the best efforts of Siobhan O’Neill and Akeema Richards – who registered eight points apiece over the course of the contest – Mark Byrne’s south Dubliners couldn’t halt the march of the impressive westerners. Courtney Cecere was scorer-in-chief for the victors with a final tally of 15 points, while Hazel Finn (14), Aoife Ryan and Kara McCleane (both 8) also shone brightly.
Following a five-point blitz from Alison Blaney in the early exchanges, Templeogue finally got up and running with a brace of free throws by Jah-Leah Ellis in the fourth-minute. However, this only offered the Metropolitans a brief respite.
Ryan and McCleane produced some eye-catching scores to give NUIG a commanding 21-4 cushion at the end of the first quarter. A Richards two-pointer did lift the spirits of Templeogue when the action resumed and Amie Tunnah also contributed four points.
Nevertheless with Finn helping herself to 10 points during the second quarter, NUIG held a seemingly unassailable 42-14 lead at half-time.
Although Lynn Tunnah came to life at the beginning of the third quarter, curbing the influence of NUIG’s principle threats was proving to be a near-impossible task. The aforementioned Cecere and Sarah Messler added to their haul, before Tunnah landed a superb three-pointer to underline her own credentials.
62-27 heading into the final 10 minutes of the play, Templeogue were determined to keep fighting until the bitter end. O’Neill registered all eight of her points in the closing quarter as Griffith College attempted to add a fairer reflection to the scoreboard.
Indeed – after Maedhbh O’Brien had produced a spectacular three-point effort for NUIG – O’Neil did round off the scoring with a last-gasp basket. In spite of the final outcome, there is a lot that Templeogue can take from the experience of this showpiece game ahead of their return to league fare at home to Ulster University next Saturday.
