Weekend of mixed emotions for Finn sisters at national cup finals

IT was a weekend of mixed emotions for the Finn sisters, Dayna and Hazel, from Kiltimagh at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.

The joy experienced by younger sister Hazel in playing a strong hand in helping University of Galway Mystics to victory in the Under 20 Cup on Saturday was not replicated by her older sister, Dayna, as her side, Trinity Meteors, lost out to a very strong Killester team in the senior women’s decider on Sunday.

The two Irish internationals had very high hopes that they could land the double, but it was not to be.

Mystics overwhelmed Limerick Sport Huskies in the Under 20 final, while Killester were just too strong inside and outside for Trinity, who in fairness were well in the game until the third quarter.

Hazel put in another massive performance to emerge as joint-top scorer with Maedhbh O’Brien (20) but there was a great scoring spread on the Mystics team, Kara McCleane (19), Emma Glavin (16) and Ellie Glavin (12) all hitting double figures as the Galway side were in a different class and playing at a higher tempo.

It was a case of the international cream rising to the very top, with four players from the team currently members of the Irish Under 20 squad, and that experience – and indeed that class – was to prove a telling factor in bring the title back to the Galway college.

All eight of the University of Galway Mystics squad are playing in the MissQuote.ie Super League, and that experience certainly told. McCleane and Finn also played with Ireland at last summer’s FIBA Under 20 Women’s European Championship, and they were influential in sparking a 49-28 half-time lead, with 16 and 12 points respectively by the break. Mystic never looked back after that.

For Killester, Sunday's win meant they captured a fourth InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie O’Connor National Cup title. They were impressive 96-70 winners over Trinity Meteors.

The victory was very much fashioned by two of their three American players, notably their point-guard Channell Williams, who scored 25 points, had 13 assists and just weaved her way through that Trinity defence to pick up the MVP award.

And execution was a problem for Trinity, who missed a lot of scores, but they came on strong in the third quarter when they worked the ball inside to their taller players. However, Killester were killing them from outside and each time Trinity posed a threat, a three-pointer was the response.

Dayna Finn finished scored a solid 14 points but had her hands full in trying to curtail Killester’s attacking threat – and Channel Williams, it has to be said, gave one of those magic performance. Nobody could have marked her in this kind of form, but the big difference is reflected in the scoring spread. Three Killester players – Chyna Latimer (26), Chanell Williams (25) and Ieva Bagdanaviciene (17) – accounted for a combined total of 67, while a fourth player, Ella McCloskey, came up with 12 points, a lot of those three-pointers which can suck the life out of a team if they begin to struggle.

Killester held the first quarter 27-22 and kicked on in the second to lead 36-24 at one stage, but Trinity hit their best period in the second part of that second quarter. Celena Taborn, who hit 25 for her side, began to make a huge impact, with Irish international Claire Melia, who was slow to the get into the game, finally beginning to get involved, and it was a Dayna Finn lay-up which finally helped Trinity get in front for the fist time (43-42) a minute form the end of the second quarter,

Killester responded to go ahead by three by the end of it, however, and that was a good as it got for Trinity, with some tough calls coming from the referees in the third quarter. Killester just seemed to move up a gear and kicked on to lead by 14 at the end of the third (74-60).

To add to Trinity’s woes, Killester opened the fourth quarter with two early three-pointers and try as they might, there was just no way back for the Meteors, who still have their sights on the Superleaghe title as they share top spot at the moment.