Ireland 94-67 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ireland put in an offensive and defensive masterclass to defeat Group A top seeds Bosnia and Herzegovina 94-67 and register Ireland's first win since the team's return to FIBA Women’s EuroBasket in 2021.
Ireland, ranked 83rd in the FIBA World Rankings, downed the 29th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina in impressive fashion.
They were quick out of the blocks and got into an 11-4 lead three and a half minutes in, helped by threes from Thornton and Hazel Finn.
Bosnia and Herzegovina brought it level at 11-11 by the midpoint of the quarter, following Ajla Selimovic’s layup under the basket.
But Ireland would lead thereafter, responding with an Enya Maguire three and a Lorraine Scanlon layup to put them 16-11 up.
Scanlon, who was the only change to the starting five, was picked out with a long range pass from Thornton and landed another layup from under the basket, Scanlon’s tally was now seven points and Ireland were 24-15 up with a minute to go.
The impressive Scanlon would finish the contest with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Bridget Herlihy’s three completed a fine opening quarter, to give Ireland a 27-15 advantage.
Back-to-back layups from Finn and Claire Melia had Ireland 33-22 up three and a half minutes into the second quarter.
Bosnia’s naturalised American Kamiah Smalls was getting into her stride and brought it to within two, 36-34, with less than a minute to go, she’d picked up 13 points in the quarter alone.
But layups from Scanlon and Sarah Hickey either side of Smalls’ free throws gave Ireland a 40-36 half-time lead.
Ireland began the third quarter strongly, kickstarted by a Melia three.
Defensively Ireland were dogged, Thornton followed her layup under the basket with a fine steal at the opposite end and then drew a foul, the Ireland captain converted her two free throws to put Ireland 51-42 up three minutes in.
Ireland continued to build a score, thanks to a pair of Finn layups and one each from Scanlon and Thornton, to give them a 17 point lead, 59-42, midway through the quarter.
Thornton and Smalls exchanged threes and it was 63-49, with three minutes to go. Ireland finished the quarter with four Melia free throws to leave them with a commanding 69-51 lead, Melia’s tally up to 13 points.
Ireland didn’t relent, a Hickey three got James Weldon’s side off to the start they wanted in the fourth quarter.
The SETU Waterford Wildcats drained another with 5’36 left on the clock, to put Ireland 77-55 to the good.
Ireland’s tempo didn’t let up and Bridget Herlihy picked up five points in the final 30 seconds, including a buzzer-beating three at the death, to cap a brilliant team performance.
Ireland captain Edel Thornton said: "It has been a long time coming, we haven’t won a competitive game in a long time, I am thrilled that we did it with authority, we didn’t just win, we won well so it’s great.
"We’ve been through a lot, a lot of ups and downs and a lot has happened in the team emotionally.
"I think this boosts us, to show us we’ve earned the right to be here. We speak about it all the time, we never go in thinking anyone is way better than us, but we’ve now shown ourselves and everyone in the country that we are a force to be reckoned with."
Ireland face Israel in their next Group A game on Tuesday in the Latvian capital of Riga.
