Basketball success for St Mary"s and Our Lady"s Bower

St Mary"s Under-16 Girls St. Mary"s under-16 girls recently retained their Midland league and cup crowns in impressive fashion by going undefeated in the league with a perfect 12-0 record. Along the way the team defeated teams from Portarlington, Clonaslee and Rathangan - a feat made all the more impressive by the size of the squad, playing the regular season with just 6 players. In the final, the girls came up against their toughest opposition all year, an improving Clonalsee side who had previously held the Athlone team to just a 3-point victory. St. Mary"s settled the quickest and scores from Maeve Hurley, Katie Rock and Muireann Chieng. At the end of the first quarter, there was only two points between the sides. The second and third quarters, however, belonged to Athlone as their captain Ali Fagan led the way, enabling St. Mary"s to build up a 20-point lead going into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Clonaslee side increased the pressure on St. Mary"s and cut the lead to just 10 points with 2 minutes left. However, the Athlone side managed to go score for score with their rivals as Laura Walsh, Maeve Hurley and finally Annette Benson cashed into secure the cup title in an exciting game. St. Mary"s: Alison Fagan, Annette Benson, Muireann Chieng, Katie Rock, Maeve Hurley and Laura Walsh. Under-18 girls St. Mary"s U18 girls team created history by securing an undefeated league and cup double - in doing so, the team has now gone four years undefeated in all regional competitions stretching back to their first league success at under-14 level. The league was based on two divisions, north and south, with the top teams from each group meeting to decide the league. St. Mary"s managed to come through the south division, while Dundalk Ravens won the north division, so the two sides met in the final. Mary"s started the brighter with baskets from Sinead Dempsey, Megan McNicholas, Jennifer DeFreitas and Maeve Hurley, leaving Athlone 12-7 ahead at the end of the first quarter. Athlone"s tough defending was typified by the hard work put in by Sarah McGann and the O"Rourke sisters, Lia & Sorcha, who forced the Ravens into countless turnovers. The second quarter belonged to Megan and Maeve as the pair put on a brilliant offensive performance. On Mary"s defensive end, it was Sadhbh Lee who stood out claiming six steals and creating many scoring opportunities for her team-mates. At half-time, the score stood at 30-15. The same pattern emerged in the third quarter with Sarah and Sorcha stifling Ravens" attempts to get back into the game, At the end of the quarter, the Ravens trailed by a scoreline of 38-22. Due to St. Mary"s dominance under the basket, the Dundalk side were limited to outside shooting. However, in the fourth quarter the Ravens seemed to have found their range hitting some big three-pointers to narrow the deficit, but Mary"s responded with scores from Sadhbh Lee and Maeve Hurley to put the game beyond doubt and allow St. Mary"s to claim their place in history books, having now gone 42 games undefeated in league competition. Final Score: 45-34. St. Mary"s: Sadhbh Lee (capt), Megan McNicholas, Sarah McGann, Sinead Dempsey, Jennifer Defreitas, Lia O"Rourke, Sorcha O"Rourke, Maeve Hurley, Annette Benson Katie Rock, Alison Fagan. Under-18 boys St Mary"s under-18 boys claimed the Midland League title thanks to a 59-51 victory over Portlaoise. Having built up a 20-point lead at half-time, St Mary"s old haunting of dropping intensity and letting leads slip came back with Portlaoise beginning to get grips with the Athlone side. Indeed, by midway through the fourth quarter the lead had been cut to just 5 points, but once again a Mary"s player took control of the game, with their captain Diarmuid Lenehan coming to the fore, scoring the last 8 points and leading the team by example as the Athlone side scored their 1st league win in 6 years on a scoreline of 59-51. St. Mary"s: Diarmuid Lenehan (capt.), Aaron barry, Philip Connor, Douglas Defreitas, Ronan Devaney, Stephen Brennan, John Shanagher, Paul Shanagher, Colin Barrett, Eddie Fagan, Brian Murphy, Michael Toolan, Mark Ryan. Under-14 girls claim league title The St Mary"s under-14 girls also ended their season on a high, recording an 11-1 league record. The girls handled all opposition put before them in a manner beyond their years. The team, who mainly consists of the midland 'A' schools winners from Our Lady"s Bower, are now the league"s representatives going towards the All-Ireland series, which are also to be held in the Bower on April 18th & 19th. Bower Buzzers fly past Thurles Our Lady"s Bower 49 Presentation Thurles 14 Our Lady"s Bower first year girls team recently claimed the midland 'A' schools title with a convincing victory over Presentation, Thurles, at the Bower gymnasium in front of a large crowd. The first quarter started at a frenetic pace in front of the vocal home support, with the Athlone side registering the first three scores through the fast breaking of Jane Henshaw and Ashleigh Coyle. Thurles responded with a basket before Alison Dunning added two more scores, before the Bower side let in some easy scores to give the Thurles side some encouragement; the quarter ending 12-6 to the home team. After the restart, some great rebounding by Katie McClean and Renata Downes led to some excellent finishes at the other end of the court by Nicole Collison and Orla McGettrick. The visitors were struggling to deal with the defensive intensity of the Athlone side, resulting in turnovers which the girls quickly capitalised on, leaving the score at half-time 22-10. Led by Alison Dunning, Niamh Ganly and Niamh Geoghegan, the Bower girls outscored their opponents 10-4 in the third quarter leaving the score at 32-14. The Bower entered the last quarter in full control and, with Katie McClean controlling the boards and Nicole Collison, Jill Leavy and Clare Connor running the floor, the Bower went on a scoring spree with fine scores coming from Renata Downes, Orla McGetrick and Sarah Lough. Our Lady"s Bower went on to boss the final quarter, scoring 17 points without reply, in a highly impressive performance that now sees them through to the All-Ireland finals on the May Bank Holiday weekend in University of Limerick. Our Lady"s Bower: Nicole Collison, Orla McGettrick, Renata Downes, Jane Henshaw, Niamh Geoghegan, Ashleigh Rose Coyle, Niamh Ganly, Alison Dunning, Katie McClean, Jill Leavy, Clare Connor, Clare Hamrock, Sarah Lough. Special thanks The club would like to express its sincere gratitude to Sister Denise and Mr Noel Casey for their support of the club and use of the great facilities at the gymnasium in the Bower Secondary School without which the club would not have got up and running this year. Also the coaches wish to thank all parents who actively participated in the running of the club and all those who gave up their Saturdays and Sundays to travel around the country your help is very much appreciated.