A jam-packed weekend for Trinity Basketball saw the College Varsity teams make their season debuts in a doubleheader away to Griffith College, while Trinity Meteors hosted their first game of the season on Trinity campus against Waterford Wildcats.
Women’s Varsity 62–50 Griffith College
Coming off their historic, undefeated 2024-25 season, the Women’s Varsity team faced a difficult challenge in their season opener against Griffith College. A sloppy start with multiple turnovers resulted in Griffith building an early seven-point advantage. Franciska Treiliha was excellent to start for Trinity. The Latvian guard displayed superb agility and athleticism in her routine drives to the basket, as she kept Trinity in the game with eight first-quarter points. The second quarter belonged to Caoimhe Gilligan, where in her first-ever college game for Trinity, the first-year was unstoppable, knocking down five three-pointers and racking up 17 points in the quarter alone. Trinity went into halftime with a narrow one-point lead.
In the second half, Trinity stepped up their game defensively. Ava Learn faced the tough task of containing Griffith’s star player, Kayce Vailie, and was able to make a significant impact on that side of the ball. On the perimeter, Trinity’s guards exerted more pressure, which forced the opposition into making turnovers. Trinity would capitalise with Avelina Moley Stoltz and Hazel Finn leaking out and scoring on the fastbreak as the side would slowly build a lead. As the game progressed, Trinity’s ball movement improved, with the ball swinging from side to side and all players getting involved. Eleanor Fitzsimons and Aimée Flynn would both get on the scoresheet as Trinity seized a double-digit advantage early in the fourth quarter. Fifth-year veteran and captain Ciara Mulligan would come up huge for TCD, grabbing critical rebounds and hitting clutch mid-range jump shots late in the shot clock. Late in the game, Riona Grealy provided a crucial spark for Trinity, making several hustle plays combined with a perfectly timed backdoor cut, which led to an easy finish, culminating in a hard-earned win.
Men’s Varsity 41–68 Griffith College
In their first game of the season, Trinity Basketball’s Men’s Varsity team faced off against defending champions Griffith College. Samuel Rex found a wide-open Cian Tiernan on the wing to put Trinity on the board first. Early on, Griffith dominated inside the paint with their 7’0 centre Jim Gormley finishing several dunks, while Trinity relied heavily on their ball movement and cutting to generate offence. Liam Smyth found a cutting Oscar Farley as Trinity jumped ahead to an early one-point lead. A fadeaway 3-pointer from Rex ended a back-and-forth first quarter, which saw the hosts lead by 3.
Griffith would come out firing on all cylinders at the start of the second quarter, led by their American duo of Mikah Blackwell and Jalen McAfee Marion. Rookie Calvin Medidas was brought on to put some full-court pressure on Griffith’s guards and slow them down. Despite efforts from Jens Örnehed with a few crafty finishes inside the paint and an impressive buzzer-beating 3-pointer, Trinity’s offence in the next two quarters was lacklustre. A massive shooting slump resulted in Trinity only scoring 17 points in the next two quarters as they trailed by 24 heading into the 4th quarter.
Griffith’s Americans continued to be a difficult task to slow down for Trinity throughout the fourth quarter. Making his Varsity debut, John Brennan injected energy off the bench, working tirelessly on defence and using his quickness to create clever finishes around the rim. Ultimately, a poor offensive showing from Trinity left more to be desired, as they fell 41-68 to a strong Griffith College side.
Trinity Meteors 66–68 Waterford Wildcats
Trinity Meteors took on a fierce Waterford Wildcats squad in a thrilling encounter in the Sports Centre on Saturday evening. Facing a strong defence early on, Meteors relied on sharp ball movement to find their points. Veteran Sarah Kenny got off to a hot start for Trinity with 9 first-quarter points. Her vast experience was on full display as she used excellent footwork and post moves to score from the low block. Kenny added to her incredible first quarter by pulling off a stunning and-one finish, flipping the ball behind her head as she was fouled. Waterford’s American Alyssa Frescas came out firing from deep in the first quarter, hitting 3 3-pointers as the first quarter finished with Meteors holding a 1-point advantage.
The second quarter was a low-scoring affair as both teams’ defences stepped up. Ciara Mulligan set an incredibly strong screen to free up the lane for Hazel Finn as Meteors tried pulling away. However, Sarah Hickey wreaked havoc inside the paint with her silky hook shots as Waterford would manage to stay level with Meteors throughout the quarter. Back-to-back three pointers from Ava Learn and Franciska Treiliha would result Meteors heading into the half-time break up two points.
Alyssa Frescas posed a serious challenge to Trinity Meteors’ defence in the third quarter. The former NCAA DI product was automatic from 3-point range, confidently knocking down shots from well beyond the arc whenever given space. Meteors stayed in the game through excellent ball movement, with multiple possessions seeing everyone get touches that led to quality looks and efficient finishes. Waterford Wildcats held a narrow one-point lead entering the final quarter.
Kylie Horstmeyer got the fourth quarter underway for Meteors with a flashy spin move and floater. However, Waterford went on a run led by Jasmine Walker, allowing Wildcats to jump ahead by eight points halfway through the fourth quarter. Seamas Donnelly made the adjustment of switching 6′ 1 Ava Learn onto Waterford’s Alyssa Frescas. Learn had been defending Wildcats’ bigs all game, but she displayed incredible versatility, keeping up with Frescas’ speed, forcing a turnover and blocking a three-point attempt. When all hope seemed lost for Trinity, a last-second 3-point heave from Aisling Moran brought the game back to 4 points with less than a minute to go. This created the momentum for Meteors to make a last-minute heroic comeback as Hazel Finn tied the game up with less than 10 seconds on the clock with a stellar finish at the rim through traffic.
Despite the notable last-minute resurgence from Meteors, the home fans’ hearts were shattered when Alyssa Frescas laid the ball in the basket at the buzzer as Waterford pulled away with a 68-66 win in the Sports Centre.
