Written 3 months ago by Will O'Callaghan

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The Ireland Under 18 women’s basketball team are aiming to write themselves into the history books this this afternoon.

With Portlaoise Panthers’ Claire Melia and Maeve Phelan part of the team, they contest the quarter-final of the FIBA U18 European Championship Division B against Israel in Dublin.

The two teams will go head-to-head in what is expected to be a sell-out game at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght at 6.15pm.

Tommy O’Mahony’s charges are hoping to go further than any other underage Irish team has gone before as they bid to reach the semi-finals on Saturday, from where they would have two opportunities to qualify for Division A – a feat no underage Irish team has ever achieved.

“They [Israel] are really tough,” O’Mahony stated after Ireland topped Pool D unbeaten on Wednesday evening. “They have a lot of guards and a lot of shooters – they like to shoot the three in transition. We’ll have to work on our defence, big time.”

Indeed, it’s truly been an incredible week for Irish basketball, with huge crowds attending the games throughout the week, and the hosts currently lead the tournament statistics for assists.

“We always talk about sharing the ball and taking the right option and when other teams are scouting us, there’s no one player who dominates the scoring,” O’Mahony added.

Image – INPHO/Tommy Dickson

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