Israel hammer Ireland to end progression hopes
Maura Fitzpatrick scored eight points for Ireland in the heavy defeat to Israel. Pic: Roman Koskarov/Sportsfile
Ireland's chances of qualifying for the second round of the Women’s EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers ended in Latvia on Tuesday evening as they lost 90-54 to Israel. The game was played behind closed doors in Riga due to Israel's war in Gaza.
“We are all very disappointed that we did not put in the performance we wanted tonight," said Ireland head coach James Weldon.
"We were not happy with our start and to be fair Israel played extremely well. The squad is still relatively young and there will always be setbacks along the way. This stings and will for a while, but when the group looks back on the campaign as whole, we will see the overall progress.
"I want to thank all the staff and players who go above and beyond for to play for their country. Tonight does not change that we won two games in the campaign and the future is definitely very bright for these players."
Weldon's side needed a victory to finish as one of the best third-placed teams from the seven qualifying groups. Israel had won all five of their games prior to Tuesday's match, including a much tighter seven-point overtime victory over Ireland in November, an encounter also played in Riga. However, the Israelis looked every bit like a team which dominated the group.
"Match-ups are as we predicted," Weldon said in the pre-match huddle. He also called for his side to set the tone. That they did. Briefly. They took a couple of offensive boards in the opening minutes and Sarah Hickey scored Ireland's first points from the line.
Ireland led for 43 seconds. The rest of the game was all about Israel. They hit back with intent. Dorian Dahan Sujic and Dor Saar nailed three consecutive three-pointers between them. They led 29-8 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead to 30 during the second quarter. Ireland did manage to cut that slightly and Israel led 48-21 at the break.
Though they were far from brilliant, Israel were massively more efficient than Ireland. They shot 8/20 from three-point range in the opening half. Ireland went 1/18. It was five minutes from half-time before Hazel Finn landed Ireland's first three. Overall, Ireland shot 15/63 from the field while Israel went 31/63.
Ireland were also sloppy in possession throughout. They gave up 23 turnovers to Israel's 16. Israel managed to score 32 points off those turnovers.
One positive for Ireland during the second half was that their three-point shooting did improve. They went a more respectable 4/15 from outside the arc. That, combined with better overall efficiency, did keep the score down.
Israel led by 39 at the end of the third quarter. Their advantage had been as big as 42. The other positive was that Ireland did manage to win the final quarter 18-15. Though, an obvious suspicion was that Israel had taken their foot off the gas at that stage.
Sarah Hickey 18, Hazel Finn 15, Maura Fitzpatrick 8
Dorian Dahan Sujic 20, Alyssa Baron 12, Abigail Meyers 11
Sarah Hickey, Hazel Finn, Enya Maguire, Emer Dunne, Edel Thornton, Abigail Rafferty, Annaliese Murphy, Maura Fitzpatrick, Sorcha Tiernan, Caitlin Gloeckner, Lorraine Scanlon, Bronagh Karl Power Cassidy
Alyssa Baron, Alis Hatokay, Dorian Dahan Sujic, Gili Eisner, Shir Scoti Tirosh, Abigail Meyers, Eden Zipel, Dor Saar, Nitzan Amar, Daniel Raber, Emma Rinat, Tslil Vaturi
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