Last week, 27 young basketball stars from the northwest competed with some of the best in Europe at the Globasket 2024 tournament at Lloret de Mar in Spain.
Fourteen U-16 girls from Sligo All-Stars, Ballyshannon BC, Donegal Town BC, Kilcar and Letterkenny Blaze competed in a combined Northwest Development team in Group A of the competition.
In their first game, the girls participated in an epic tussle with Escola IPSI from Barcelona, where a free throw with 0.7 seconds on the clock saw the home team take a one-point victory on a scoreline of 60-59.
Later in the day, in Round 2 against CB Moratalaz from Madrid the girls’ hard work and skill paid off with a dominant scoreline of 55-30. Â
While their third group game didn’t go their way, their earlier victory and narrow loss, along with results elsewhere meant the girls had qualified for the semifinals.
In the boys’ tournament, 13 U-16 boys from Letterkenny Blaze, Donegal Town BC, Sligo All-Starts, Kilcar and Glenties also competed in Group A of their competition. First up were the Icelandic Vikings of KR Basketball where the boys lost the first quarter by 8 points and despite their best efforts couldn’t pull back the deficit, losing 48-39.
On day two, the boys fared better with a strong four-point victory over AE Sant Andreu Natzaret 4 from Badalona, on the outskirts of Barcelona and home of professional basketball club, Club Joventut.
Getting into their grove, having never played together as a team before the tournament, the boys dominated their third group game against Escolapios Bilbao to win 82-46 to qualify for the quarter final.
In the quarter final, a poor start again saw the boys with an eight-point deficit but this time they were able to turn things around to level the game by the end of Q3 and a dominant final quarter saw them over the line on a scoreline of 53-44.
The tournament organisers had indicated they would be able to reschedule the final if the Northwest boys made it that far, to accommodate their flights, but it became evident that this wasn’t going to happen, and the semifinal was to be their final game.
In the girls’ semi-final, a classic battle against another Bilbao side was level at half time on 19 points each but the girls worked a four-point lead in Q3 and maintained that gap to win 41-37.
Revenge was on the cards for the final but unfortunately the Barcelona team, one-point victors in the first group game, withdrew from the competition before the final could be played and the girls were declared winners.
In the boys’ semi-final the boys started terribly and were losing 13-3 early on but having brought it back to all square before the end of the quarter they went on to dominate the remainder of the game, frustrating their Spanish hosts, to win the game 81-56.
All the players, their coaches and travelling support enjoyed a local derby in Badalona on the Sunday night when Barcelona defeated Club Joventut in the Liga ACB at the sold out, 12,500 capacity Palau Municipal d’Esports de Badalona stadium.
Northwest Basketball would like to thank the Sponsors of the boy’s gear: Avenue Mould Solutions, Sligo, the Kernans Group Letterkenny and Ballyshannon, Glenside Bacon Glenties and Ocean Knowledge Kincasslagh.
The girls’ gear was sponsored by Donegal Daily and Reshape Health and Fitness, Ballyshannon.
Players: Girls: Katie McGowan, Emily McNamee, Laoise Foy, Erin McGloin & Irene Borque (Ballyshannon), Laura Boyle (Kilcar), Thea Leadley and Maebh Maguire (Letterkenny Blaze) Rachael Frain, Ava Lyons, Caomhóg McManus & Clara Reynolds (Sligo All-Stars) and Laura Quinn and Ella Byrne (Donegal Town.)
Boys: Brian Meehan, Jasper Gimea & Keelan Mulligan (Sligo All Stars), Oisin Mullen, Alex Wright, Daimhin McGettigan & Senan Gallagher (Letterkenny Blaze), Conal Flannery, Sergio Menendez, Bryan Drzewiecki & Stefan Neskender (Donegal Town), Daithi Molloy (Glenties) and Michael Gallagher (Kilcar).