The Irish women's basketball team put behind them over a decade of failure in the Four Countries International Tournament to win the trophy for the first time since 1986 with a thorough 69-38 dismissal of Scotland in their third and final match yesterday at The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
In all three Irish victories over Wales, England and The Scots, Ireland amassed a total of 217 points while conceding only 132. Their smallest victory margin was still a healthy 19 points over England in the match which effectively decided the tournament on Saturday evening.
Ireland entered that clash following a facile 72-37 win on Friday night over Wales while England had only just prevailed against the Scots by 53-52 the same evening.
Both Ireland and England instinctively knew that their duel was bound to be a championship decider and the intensity of the defence by both teams in the first half especially, along with the high speed of play, was typical of a match of critical nature.
Ireland's 76-57 win was founded on the brilliant defensive rebounding of both Edel O'Gorman and Jillian Hayes along with the outstanding long-range shooting of Suzanne Maguire, who was the top scorer in the game on 25 points.
Following that victory, it was anticipated that Ireland would face an equally difficult task against Scotland yesterday to put the issue of their championship success beyond doubt; as the Scots had so nearly beaten England on Friday.
In fact Scotland still had a chance to win the overall honours had they beaten Ireland by a large margin; but almost immediately from the tip-off it was evident that the Irish were the better side.
Ireland held a commanding 3417 interval lead and in the second period Fitzpatrick was able to run his bench of players freely as Ireland strode away. In one sublime passage of play Ireland's Suzanne Maguire, Rachel Kelly and Michelle Maguire landed consecutive three-pointers as they romped to a 69-38 victory and their first major trophy success since that day in Cardiff 12 years earlier.
