Mayo's Hazel Finn stars as youthful Ireland lose to Latvia in EuroBasket qualifier

A youthful Ireland battled hard before losing 85-53 to Latvia in their FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 qualifier in Riga yesterday (Thursday).

Making her debut at senior level, 21-year-old Mayo native Hazel Finn finished as joint-top scorer for Ireland with 13 points.

Head coach James Weldon also handed first caps to 19-year-old Caitlin Gloeckner and 17-year-old Aisling Moran.

Finn got her name on the scoresheet early on with a pull-up jump shot four and a half minutes in, and showed her undoubted talent in the third quarter with a three-point fadeaway jump shot either side of a pair of lay-ups.

While disappointed with the defeat, Weldon was happy that Ireland fought 'really hard'.

He elaborate: “We had a very slow start, but settled down a little bit late in the first quarter and the start of the second quarter. Kitija Laksa for them had a massive half; we talked a lot about her in the scout, but we gave her too much space entirely in the first half. We took that away in the second half.

“I think that some of the young girls can be really, really proud of how hard they played today. We look forward to try to build on today’s performance on Sunday.”

The game on Sunday (November 10) sees Ireland face Israel at 12.15 Irish time. The Group E game will once again take place at a neutral venue – the Rimi Olympic Village in Riga. It can be viewed live on the FIBA YouTube channel.

Ireland: Amy Dooley (0), Hazel Finn (13), Caitlin Gloeckner (0), Bridget Herlihy (2), Kate Hickey (13), Sarah Hickey (6), Áine O’Connor (6), Aisling Moran (0), Alexandra Mulligan (8), Grace Prenter (2), Abigail Rafferty (3).

Latvia: Paula Strautmane (0), Ketija Vihmane (6), Aleksa Gulbe (5), Anete Steinberga (16), Ilze Jakobsone (6), Vanesa Jasa (6), Lina Loceniece (4), Luize Sila (5), Kitija Laksa (25), Kate Vilka (8), Katrina Ozola (3), Digna Strautmane (1).