Day 3 - Two games in one day!

Day 3

We started our longest day yet by crawling out of bed at 7.30am for our 8:00 AM training session at the gym. As it was too early for breakfast to be served, some of the girls had bought sandwiches in the café the previous night so we had energy for our session. The tired atmosphere dropped when we reached the gym as it was time to focus on the changes that had to be made before our next two games later that day. With the full team back training Dave went through specific parts of our game that he wanted to be improved on. We finished our productful training with a loud cheer as the Dutch team arrived through the door before we got our stuff and left for breakfast.

With a couple of hours left to spare before our game against the Netherlands everybody left breakfast and went for a lie-down and chilled out to some music, while some of the players carrying injuries went to Sheena for some much needed physio.

Soon enough it was game time! We arrived at the gym with over 45 minutes until tip off so we laced up and had a shoot around before getting our regular warm up started. With everybody getting comfortable with the baskets, an unprepared Dutch team arrived late to the game wearing the wrong set of gear and had to get changed for a second time before stepping foot on the court.

We started the game strong while staying neck and neck with the Dutch for the majority of the first half. A lot of great performances occurred as everyone on the court had fresh legs when we moved to a five on - five off rotation. The first half ended with us still in the game so we moved to the dressing room for a team talk. We spoke on what was needed to be done in order to stay in the game. It was only until the 3rd quarter where we lost focus for 5 minutes where they took advantage and began to build up a lead. Within those 5 minutes they were up by thirty and we ended up chasing after them. After regaining our control, we started the 4th quarter wanting to get back into the game and finish well. We finished the game short losing 68-41 but took away with us the positive and negative parts and looked to use them against Luxembourg later that day.


We set off back to the hostel for some lunch before going back to the rooms and showering once again. Soon enough, we had to turn around and leave for game 2 of the day! The coaches had spoken to us about not going into the game overly confident because we had beaten Luxemborg two days previous but to treat them with the respect they deserved as they had proven themselves the night before when they defeated the Netherlands by a point after being beaten by 40 points in their first game against them.


At the tip-off Luxembourg showed they came ready to play after getting three consecutive offensive rebounds before we stepped up and showed we wanted it too. With a poor start to the game the score stayed close throughout the first half. After discussing what needed to be changed in order to come out on top, the game still stayed close until Luxembourg began to pull away and were up before we knew it. It was in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter where we dug deep and were up by 3 points with only a couple of minutes left on the clock. It was our turn to play tough defence when just as the shot clock was running down a three pointer was put up by one of the Luxembourg girls and went right through the net. It was 45-45 with under a minute left to go when the ball was pushed down the court and we were fouled. We went one for two on the line and secured the victory with some solid defence.


We finished our cool down and waited outside the gym for our drivers while taking some pictures. While turned away from the coaches/supporters taking pictures of the back of our kits, we were suddenly soaked. The coaches had started a water fight and to Danny’s mistake of running away so he wouldn’t get wet it ended up being twelve against one. We arrived back to the hostel and joined in on the festival that had been ongoing that day. Instead of having a regular dinner we enjoyed a barbeque before we settled down for the night.


Bye for now,
Team Ireland