Midlands cup double for excellent Longford Phoenix Basketball Club girls teams

There was Cup Final joy on the double for Longford Phoenix Basketball Club on Sunday in Tullamore as both the Phoenix Girls Under 18’s and Under 14’s were crowned Midlands Cup Division One Champions with both teams achieving victory over Portlaoise.

The Under 18 Girls defeated their Portlaoise counterparts by seven points, sixty-one to fifty-four. Phoenix were up by eight points at the end of the first quarter, ahead by seven points at half-time and although Portlaoise got back to within four points by the end of the third quarter, Phoenix kept their composure to lift the cup.

Denise Mondo top scored with nineteen points with Anna Assis next in the scoring pecking order with fifteen points, and Sinead Masterson completed the top three scorers with thirteen points.

PICTURES | Longford school celebrates historic success: Terrific Templemichael triumph

Ericka Higgins registered five points, Laoise Tonra added four points, Carina Chukwu-Ede knocked down three points and Ailbhe Mulligan scored two points. Charlotte Traut, Viktorija Brivinskaile, and Lois Gilbert completed the line-up for the victorious Phoenix team. Eimear Brannigan and Martina Kelly were the coaches.

Also competing in the top-flight Midlands Cup Final were the Phoenix Girls Under 14 team who were also in action against Portlaoise, and they had a much more straight-forward win emerging victorious by fifty points to thirty-five.

Clara Devlin and Holy Brady top-scored for Phoenix with twelve and eleven points respectively, while Georgia Brady fired in ten points. Niamh Devlin, Lucy Mulleady and Grace Masterson all knocked down five points, while Ciara McCormack scored the other two points. Eve Dowler, Emma Hopkins, Leah Ledwith, Mary Harris & Aoife Ledwith completed the successful cup winning panel for the day while Laura Devlin was the coach.

Caption: The Longford Phoenix Under 18 Girls Basketball team who were crowned Midlands Cup Champions on Sunday after victory over Portlaoise

Also read: Longford Rugby Club seeks planning permission for a gym

Senior Ladies
Our Ladies lost their LLR encounter to Mohill by 69 points to 59.

Under 16 Boys & Girls
In the Midlands League, our Under 16 Boys went down to Athlone by 68 points to 39 but they had much more joy against the Kildare Eagles as they had twenty points to spare in a 73 points to 53 triumph. In an exciting and close LLR League clash, they recorded a fine road victory over Carrick Cougars coming out on top by 51 points to 48 and followed that up with a comprehensive 89 points to 42 win over the Mohill Mavericks Black team.
Unfortunately, Phoenix Green lost their LLR match away to Boyle by 55 points to 43.
Our Under 16 Girls team were in LLR action against Mohill and earned an impressive away victory.

Under 14 Boys & Girls
In the Midlands League our Under 14 Girls lost out to Athlone but they defeated Mohill Pink in the LLR League, and Boyle at home by 34 points to 16.
Our Under 14 Boys recorded an excellent 50 points to 39 victory over their Athlone counterparts in their Midlands League meeting, and they also earned a fine LLR League victory at home to Mohill winning by 41 points to 24.

Under 12 Boys & Girls
In the LLR Girls Under 12 League, our Wings team lost to Carrick but our Flames team defeated both Carrick whites & Mohill. They beat Carrick Whites by 34 points to 12 and Mohill by 32 points to 4.

PICTURES | A selection of Longford photographic memories from yesteryear