On Monday the 15th of December the Girls Cadet Basketball team played their semi-final match against St. Michael’s Holy Faith Secondary School Finglas. With a few players sick and unable to play on the day, the team was down to just five players. They knew it was going to be a tough game from the start. On the team were base players Tessa Dunphy and Enya Dunphy, wing players Niamh Campbell and Megan O’ Brien and ball handler Kate Hurley, the team was coached by Ms. Mongey.
Tessa Dunphy started the 1st quarter well, gaining possession for Ashbourne in the jump off and continued to play with great tackles and drive. Ashbourne’s defence was excellent as they defended 9 attempted shots made by St. Michael’s. 4minutes 52 seconds into the first quarter and St.Michael’s scored their first basket. St.Michael’s made two fouls in the first quarter allowing Enya and Kate 2 free shots each but they were unlucky and missed them. With two and a half minutes to go, Kate caught the rebound and scored for Ashboune. Kate scored another 2 points with 1 minute left to go. By the end of the 1st quarter the score was Ashbourne-6 St.Michael’s-10.
The second quarter the girls showed a solid defence. Tessa scored 2 brilliant shots from two great drives. The girls were getting tired but this did not stop them from fighting to win the game. St. Michaels were called for 4 fouls, these were taken by Enya, Kate, Tessa, and Kate again. Enya scored 1 point. Kate was unlucky when missing her shots the first time but got the next two in. Tessa also scored 1 point. By the end of the 2nd quarter the scores were even. 14: 14.
It was now that the girls realised they had a good chance of winning, even though the other team had more than 3 times the amount of players! The third quarter went well. The girls were working well as a team. The other team got called for 2 more fouls during this quarter, brought on by an Ashbourne drive to the basket. With one quarter left the scores were now Ashbourne 21: St. Michael’s 28.
The last quarter made the supporters from Ashbourne sit on the edge of their seat and bite nails!
The girls were tired now, as they had no subs all match long, but they were fighting for this. With only 2 minutes left in the game the score was Ashbourne 29: St. Michael’s 36. Enya caught the rebound an scored a skillful shot. Then Tessa burst on the scene with 48 seconds to go she scored another 2 points, making the score now 33: 36. With 12 seconds to go Tessa scored another 2 points!!
The final score was Ashbourne 35 St.Michael’s 36. A brilliant game played by all.