Spirited Ireland suffer narrow loss to Latvia

IRELAND 90-96 LATVIA

Ireland head coach James Weldon said he was "incredibly proud" of his team, after they fell to a heartbreaking 96-90 defeat to world number 28 Latvia in the Group E of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.

The women's side showed real spirit after their 101-point loss to France on Thursday.

Ireland, ranked 85th in the world, came close to causing a major upset, leading 90-89 with 1:19 to go.

A nerveless three, and two free throws from Kitija Laska and a pair of free throws for Anete Steinberga saw Latvia just get over the line.

Ireland had a host of eye-catching performances, Claire Melia chief among them with 26 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four turnovers. She got Ireland off the mark in the opening seconds with a layup for an early 2-0 lead.

Latvia’s captain Steinberga led by example in the opening quarter at both ends, collecting 13 points and nine rebounds. A four-point run by Steinberga just before the midpoint was ended by Kate Hickey, who came off the bench to make an immediate impact with a three, to see Ireland trail 16-12.

Latvia had built a nine point lead coming into the closing stages of the quarter, only for Ireland captain Thornton to land an end of quarter buzzer beating three to reduce the deficit to 24-18 and get the sell-out crowd to their feet.

Ireland made an excellent start to the second quarter and were back level, 24-24 but back-to-back three’s from Digna Strautmane had Latvia ahead by four, 34-30. Ireland were back within one, 38-37 by half-time.

A pair of Aine O’Connor free throws and Ireland were 46-45 up with a minute to go in the second quarter. Latvia finished strongly, a corner three from Katrina Ozola and an end of quarter buzzer beater three from Laksa handed