Fifteen points for Mayo's Hazel Finn in Ireland's defeat to Luxembourg

Mayo native Hazel Finn scored 15 points, just two behind the team's top scorer Abigail Rafferty, in Ireland's defeat to Luxembourg in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2027 qualifier yesterday (Wednesday).

The hosts won 85-73 at Centre National Sportif & Culturel d’Coque in what was the fourth Group A game of the qualifiers.

Luxembourg led from start to finish in this contest. It was 22-15 by the end of the first quarter and had a 45-33 advantage by half-time.

Ireland had cut the gap to eight following a good start to the third quarter but the Luxembourg advantage was 12 again by the end (68-56).

The Irish trailed by 10 (81-71) with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter but Ireland couldn’t get any closer, and Luxembourg ran out 85-73 winners.

Speaking after the game, Ireland head coach, James Weldon said: “I think overall (it was) a positive enough performance away from home. It is always difficult, a slow start, we got well beaten on the boards, they beat us by over 20 on the boards and 14 or 15 second chance points, and when you look at it, it was a 12-point game.

“I thought there was good energy in the group. I thought it was a much-improved performance than Dublin (against Luxembourg in November). They are a much higher ranked team; they almost qualified for the last EuroBasket finals, they lost out on points difference. I am sure they were determined to get through.”

Weldon’s added: “We’ll just move on to the next game, I don’t think we’re completely eliminated yet. If we can get the last two wins there is a chance of being one of the best third-best placed teams because the margin in the Israel game was pretty tight.

“We’ll regroup, we’ll analyse, and we start preparing for Bosnia & Herzegovina, who looked much better today against Israel and it is going to be a difficult challenge over there, but the vibe is positive and we move on to the next one.”

Ireland face Bosnia & Herzegovina in their next Group A game on Saturday (March 14) at 7 p.m., a game which is live on the TG4 Player and app. The team conclude their campaign with a behind-closed-doors fixture against Israel in Riga, Latvia, next Tuesday (March 17). 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: Michelle Clarke (DNP), Sarah Hickey (10), Hazel Finn (15), Emer Dunne (0), Enya Maguire (11), Edel Thornton (5), Abigail Rafferty (17), Annaliese Murphy (0), Maura Fitzpatrick (4), Sorcha Tiernan (2), Lorraine Scanlon (2), Bronagh Power-Cassidy (7).

Luxembourg: Jay Baum (DNP), Anne Simon (26), Svenia Nurenberg (5), Magaly Meynadier (5), Dana Wies (0), Kathryn Missavage (0), Liz Irthum (0), Esmeralda Skrijelj (5), Dionne Madjo (14), Sofie Olsen (0), Joyce Isi Etute (27), Julie Mangen (3).