Aoife McDermott wins silver with Irish squad
SLIGO’S Aoife McDermott played a big part in the Irish Women’s Basketball’s team route to the final of the FIBA Women’s European Championship.
McDermott, from Riverstown, was an integral part of the team who made it all the way to the final, before losing out to a strong Malta side, taking home a silver medal.
It was the first time that an Irish Women’s team had participated in the competition in seven years, and it was a huge success.
The Irish team qualified as top of their group following a convincing 84- 43 win vs. Wales, with McDermott scoring 12 points and followed this up with a 77- 53 point win vs. Moldova, with McDermott scoring 4 points.
McDermott, who currently plays for DCU Mercy ( after starting out with the Sligo All- Stars and moving on to UL), had a fantastic semi- final performance.
Ireland beat Andorra 86- 45 in the semi- final with McDermott leading the scoring with 17 points – with 15 of them coming in the first half.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be for the Irish Women as they were bested by a score of 67- 59 in the final. McDermott scored 2 points in a fiercely contested final, rounding off what had been a very impressive tournament for her.
Ireland’s head coach Mark Scannell said following the final: “I’m very proud. It’s been some effort this week. We’ll learn a lot from it and Ireland will come back stronger. It just wasn’t our day today.”