Trinity Meteors beat University of Galway Mystics 89-70 in their MissQuote.ie SuperLeague season-opener at the Trinity Sports Centre on Saturday.
In a game more closely contested than the final scoreline suggests, the Meteors got off to a blistering start and largely dominated the first half, going in at 50-33.
Newly promoted NUIG came out fighting in the third quarter, narrowing the gap to just three points at several stages.
However, Trinity’s greater experience and calibre of player rose to the fore in the fourth quarter and they closed out the win against their more youthful opponents.
The Meteor matchday squad included three Ireland internationals: sports scholar Sarah Kenny, elder Finn sister Dayna and new-signing Claire Melia.
Melia’s arrival – one of three offseason additions – has caused great excitement around the club, not least because she joins from last-season’s Super League title winners The Address UCC Glanmire.
Trinity also have a new head coach in Niall Berry, who replaced Vincent O’Keeffe – the man who led Trinity to promotion back in 2020 – over the summer.
Berry was assistant coach to the U18 Ireland Women’s European Championship silver medalists in 2017, and counts Basketball Ireland Development Officer as another of his former roles.
Mystics head coach Paul O’Brien prophesied that it would be a “baptism by fire” for his side against the star-studded Meteors. And so it initially proved, with TCD surging to a 24-9 lead at the close of the first quarter.
The Division 1 champions improved in the second quarter, scoring six quick points in the first ninety seconds. However, a Meteors timeout triggered a further flurry of points for the women in green, propelling the score to 37-17 halfway through the quarter.
There were signs of promise from Mystics too in the last few minutes of the half, improvement which was not unreflected in the scoreline.
Perhaps spurred by the prospect of bragging rights slipping to her older sister, Hazel Finn was especially impressive here, scoring several of her final tally of 22 points in this period.
Whilst not the tallest player on the field, Finn consistently displayed nifty footwork, plenty of poise and an abundance of balance – an arsenal of skill encapsulated by her buzzer-beating three at the stroke of the half.
Her score drew a temporary halt to proceedings, with the Meteors flying 50-33 up.
Little were Trinity to know how ominously Mystics’ last act of defiance was to augur for the coming quarter. For whatever halftime notions the Meteors may have had of floating through the remainder of the game untroubled came crashing down to earth shortly after the restart.
The rangy Mystics power forward was a dominant presence up front for the away side and NUIG’s Finn proved similarly problematic as Mystics threw everything at the cruising Meteors.
Seemingly further spurred by their own success, NUIG had soon roared back to 54-46 within three minutes of the second half.
Trinity were struggling to get a hold of the explosive Mystics power forward here. Indeed, at times she was her own greatest nemesis, stopped only when her vigour veered into violent infringement of the rules.
Meteor Dayna Finn’s interspersed three-pointers punctuated the stampede of opposition impetus, tugging a turgid Trinity to a 59-49 advantage.
However, Mystic Hazel Finn was not to be overshadowed by her sister, and spearheaded NUIG’s persistent pursuit with a pertinent three-pointer of her own to pull her side back to 60-55.
A long range effort from the Mystics point guard narrowed Trinity’s already timid advantage to just three, where it teetered for the majority of the quarter’s remainder.
Two Dayna Finn free throws – accounting for two of her total of 19 points for the game – closed the curtain on a turbulent third quarter for Trinity.
With the scores balanced at 60-55 and Mystics sensing a change in fortune, a frantic fourth quarter seemed in store.
Yet it was at this juncture that Meteor’s stars raised their game to another world. Debutante Melia marauded across the court with a confidence and quality unrivalled by any other of its occupants.
Already towering over the other players, the Ireland international’s physical peerlessness was now matched only by her incomparable quality.
Melia was dominant at both ends of the court in this quarter – scoring seven of her eight free throws (amidst a personal haul of 15 points) as well as marshalling the hazardous NUIG power forward superbly in defence.
She was vital in soaking up the NUIG blitzkrieg before launching counterattacks which sapped both energy and morale from the brave but blowing Mystics.
With Trinity now 81-67 up with five minutes to go, it was the Mystics rather than the Meteors who appeared to have burned too brightly too soon.
The nous of the more seasoned Super League side shone in the form of controlled game management as they cannily closed out a 89-70 win.
Despite the result, Mystics will now doubt take great heart from their spirited performance, particularly the way they fought back in the third quarter against such talented opposition.
In no way did they look out of their depth, and will surely further prove a difficult opponent for the rest of the league as the season progresses and they adapt to their new league.
For Trinity, a first win in their first game is precisely what Niall Berry would have wanted in his own first game.
The cohesive manner in which his new-look side gelled will provide further encouragement as they look to next week’s fixture away at DCU Mercy – a side who finished four places and eighteen points above them last season.
