Ahead of their final Group B fixture at the FIBA U20 Women’s European Championships, Ireland are already through to the quarter-finals with Kilkenny basketball standout Lucy Coogan chipping in with some vital scores this week.
The Irish women are in Romania for this year’s Championships, turning over their hosts 67-64 on Sunday, having opened their account with an 80-74 win over Greece on Friday.
For Kilkenny’s Lucy Coogan, already capped at U18 level for Ireland, there was a big performance on Sunday with eight rebounds and 14 points to her name. Ireland were leading by a single point – 64-63 – with just over a minute left in Sunday’s game with three free throws from University of Galway Mystics’ Hazel Finn ensuring an Irish win at the death and a place in the quarter-finals to match.
Ireland play their final group game at 11am on Wednesday morning against Georgia, after which they’ll know who they face in the quarter-finals this coming Friday.
“What a gutsy performance from the girls. When we needed to dig deep and do the hard work and the dirty work, we showed we can compete with anyone in this (tournament) and to get to a quarter-final with a victory like that is going to stand to us”, said Niamh Dwyer, U20 women’s assistant head coach.
