UL Huskies will face Team Montenotte in the Basketball Ireland Women’s Premier League final this Sunday 23 at Neptune Stadium in Cork.
A wonderful performance from Rachael Vanderwal helped UL edge the semi-final with a 13 point win over rivals Killester at UL Arena last Saturday 15.
British Olympian Vanderwal was superb throughout the 63-50 victory shooting 13 points and setting up a series of baskets. Huskies are far from a one women team though – their eagerness to regain possession and sharp passing was a common theme throughout the game as Rachel Clancy grabbed 21 points and Louise Galvin netted 10.
The Limerick side were wary of the North Dubliners going into this clash. They stunned the home team last November by coming away from UL Arena with a victory in a regular season clash – one of only two defeats UL suffered all season.
However, Huskies’ superior quality as a cohesive unit was the deciding factor and they can now look forward to a chance at avenging their defeat to Team Montenotte in the National Cup final last January.
“Making it this far is extremely important to us for two reasons, the first being that we wanted to bounce back from our National Cup loss and the second that in the Basketball Ireland Roll of Honour we are tied with WIT Wildcats with six league titles,” said head coach James Weldon.
“If we are to go on and win again this year we will be the most successful women’s club which would be an unbelievable achievement,” he added.
If Huskies win on Sunday, the Premier League Trophy will be making its way to Limerick for a fourth year in a row.
In the men’s League Cup quarter finals, UL Eagles made light work of Team Garvey’s St Mary’s in Castleisland by coming away with a 85-55 victory. Delwan Graham once again showed his importance to the Limerick team by leading the points scoring with 18.
UL await to find out their opponents in the semis this weekend, after the quarter final fixture between Team Left Bank Kilkenny and Belfast Star was abandoned in the last quarter due to a broken back board.
by Robert McNamara
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