Carrie Shepard of The Address UCC Glanmire during the InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie OConnor Cup semi-final match between The Address UCC Glanmire and Singleton's SuperValu Brunell at Neptune Stadium in Cork. Photo by Sam Barnes/SportsfileThe Address UCC Glanmire have gone three points clear at the top of the MissQuote.ie Super League with just two games remaining, after they picked up weekend wins over Leixlip Amenities Liffey Celtics and Fr. Mathews.
Mark Scannell’s side defeated Leixlip Amenities Liffey Celtics 76-69 on Saturday, with Carrie Shephard leading the offence on 31 points, followed by Claire Melia on 15 and Tierney Pfirman on 10. The Cork club were pushed throughout, Liffey Celtics led 35-34 at half-time, but couldn’t hold off their opponents. Ioannis Liapakis’ side were led by Adriene Jackson 20, Ciara Bracken 13 and Sorcha Tiernan 13.
A day later The Address UCC Glanmire overcame Fr. Mathews 85-64, Shephard once again headed the scoring with 35 points, followed by Pfirman on 14 and Melia on 13. As for Fr. Mathews, the top scorers were Gráínne Dwyer on 25, Shannon Brady with 16, while Amy Murphy and Aisling McCann got eight each.
Speaking after the Fr. Mathews game, The Address UCC Glanmire head coach Mark Scannell, said: “Another tough game against a good Fr. Mathews team, but we were fantastic today considering Áine (McKenna) was injured and we had a few knocks after the Leixlip Amenities Liffey Celtics game. Carrie (Shephard) again was magnificent, 66 points in 24 hours, as well as Claire (Melia) and Tierney (Pfirman). Again Casey (Grace) and Mia (Furlong) get the toughest defensive assignments, but came up trumps again. Our younger players were very good Lesley-Ann (Wilkinson), Annealise (Murphy, Louise (Scannell) and Amy (Dooley) made life very difficult for Fr. Mathews and Miriam (Loughrey) did a great job as always. Nice also to get Abbey in for a few minutes. But now two games to go, we have to really knuckle down and get ready for DCU next week.”
Second-placed Singleton SuperValu Brunell kept the pressure on The Address UCC Glanmire, after they won 101-77 at WIT Waterford Wildcats. Kwanza Murray headed their scoring with 32 points, Edel Thornton shot 20, while Shannon Ryan contributed 14.
Tim O’Halloran, Singleton SuperValu Brunell head coach, highlighted the quality of the game. “Firstly, what a game of basketball from both sides. The standard was very high and as I said to the girls before the game, we need to be at our very best for 40 minutes and match their intensity and that is exactly what they did.”
The defeat ended WIT Waterford Wildcats’ title challenge, their top scorers were Stephanie O’Shea (18), Rachel Thompson (16), Sarah Hickey and Jaz Walker (14).
Fr. Mathews got a big week in the basketball season off to a perfect start on Wednesday, as they beat IT Carlow in a huge comeback win. Being down 53-36 at the interval, Fr. Mathews went on to stage a revival to win the game 80-73. Shannon Brady and Aisling McCann both shot 21, as Gráinne Dwyer hit 14. For IT Carlow, it was Alyssa Velles who led the charts with 24, followed by Lauren LaPlant (16) and Ava Coogan (15).
