Basketball duo answer Ireland call in Belarus
IT was a memorable weekend for two Drogheda basketball players as they both represented Ireland in an international under-16 tournament in the Belarus capital Minsk.
This was the toughest test possible for the boys and girls teams as they play in Division B of the European Championship and their opponents were Poland, Lithuania and the host country who are all A-ranked.
However, the Ireland management opted to send squads to the tournament as a learning curve for the players and both Kate Kelly from the Drogheda Sparks club and Wede Esajobor of Drogheda Bullets acquitted themselves extremely well over the three matches.
Kate in particular made a big impression in the second game against Poland, amassing a personal haul of 16 points, and that earned her the prize of captaining her country for the match against Lithuania on Sunday morning.
Wede featured on successive days in the Ireland boys’ matches against Belarus and Poland and produced solid performances in the key point guard position, earning plenty of court time.
These are exciting times for Wede’s club Bullets as the men’s team play host to East Cavan Eagles of Virginia this coming weekend in the quarter-finals of the NICC competition for non National League clubs.
The winners of the tie, which takes place on Saturday in the St Joseph’s CBS gym - tip-off 6pm - will play in the semi-finals in Cork on January 12th. Bullets Under-18s will feature in the Under-18 Shield Cup quarter-finals in Cork on the same date.
Bullets’ youth section is building nicely and eight boys and two girls have made it onto the Ulster Academy Under-14 squad, with seven boys included in the Ulster Academy Under-15s.
Meanwhile, Drogheda Sparks Under-16s made light of the absence of key players Ciara Ni Criosta and Kate Kelly through injury and international duty respectively as they overcame hosts Cavan Lakers 47-27 on Sunday.
With their team trailing by three points in the early stages, coaches Gar Ni Criosta and Karen Lynch switched to a full court pressing defensive style that was easy on the eye and great for getting scores.
The Cavan girls were generally taller than their Boyneside counterparts and could rebound the ball better, but the faster and more polished players were on Sparks’ team.
Ava Prendergast had her season’s best all-round game and led the scoring with 15 points, but it was Sparks’ defense which was really the key to this game and Lakers could not live with its intensity - with Nikola Busa as its linchpin.
The Sparks just thrived on forcing the ball away from Lakers and getting it up the other end for easy scores. Abby Rice chipped in with seven points, Ava Briscoe had eight and Zoe Gardiner - one of the most improved players - was everywhere on court.
A six-point half-time lead pushed out to 20 at the end of three quarters and that was still the difference at the end.
Sparks wrap up the first half of the season this Saturday when they host Carrick Cruisers at 3pm in Sacred Heart School.