Luxembourg 85-73 Ireland
Ireland fell to a 85-73 defeat to Luxembourg on Wednesday in their fourth Group A game of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers at Centre National Sportif & Culturel d'Coque in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg led from start to finish in this contest and began strongly, with Anne Simon’s three and a Dione Madjo layup handed them an early 10-2 lead.
Sarah Hickey’s three-point jump in the third minute had James Weldon’s outfit trailing 10-5.
Luxembourg kicked on and extended their advantage to 13 at 22-9, following another Madjo layup with three and a half minutes left in the quarter.
Ireland rallied and closed the deficit as Enya Maguire neatly picked out Abigail Rafferty in the paint for a layup and it was 22-13 with two minutes to go.
Maura Fitzpatrick, playing her first EuroBasket game since 2021, downed a layup to leave it at 22-15 by the end of the quarter.
Simon and Maguire traded three-point shots in the early stages of the second quarter to leave it poised at 27-20.
Luxembourg then went on an 13-point run, finished off by Joyce Isi Etute’s layup to lead 40-20 four and a half minutes in.
Hazel Finn finally snapped that run to kickstart an eight-point scoring run for Ireland, Rafferty and Finn bagging a pair of layups each.
The potent Simon landed her fourth three of the contest to make it 43-28 with three minutes to go.
Again Finn responded, with a three and two free throws to help her to a 13 point tally by half-time.
Luxembourg would have the final say through another Etute layup. She had accumulated 17 points by the break to help the home side into a 45-33 lead. Etute went on to finish with a game-high 27 points.
Ireland got off to the perfect start to the third quarter, thanks to an Edel Thornton jump shot and Hickey’s fast break and layup to cut the deficit to eight at 45-37.
Bronagh Power Cassidy's three Ireland midway through the quarter made it 56-46, only for Simon to respond immediately with her sixth three of the contest.
A five-point run from Rafferty – a three and two free throws - narrowed it to 10 once more at 61-51 with two minutes to go. However, Luxembourg led 68-56 by the end of the third.
Ireland needed to make early inroads in the fourth quarter, but Maguire’s three in the opening seconds was cancelled out shortly afterwards by the impressive Etute.
Thorton’s three-point jump shot saw Ireland trail by 10 at 81-71 with three minutes to go.
Ireland couldn’t get any closer, while Rafferty had the final points of the contest with a layup to bring her to a team-high tally of 17.
Ireland face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their next game on Saturday at 7pm and the team conclude their campaign with a behind-closed-doors fixture against Israel in Riga, Latvia, on St Patrick's Day.
The winners and runners up from each of the seven groups qualify for the second round of FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers, along with the three best-ranked third-placed teams. Ireland currently occupy third place in their group.
