Notre Dame enhance unbeaten start

Things just keep on getting better for Notre Dame. On Saturday, they travelled to Limerick's new University Arena and in front of an overtly partisan crowd, handed their hosts a 105-86 defeat - comfortably maintaining their unbeaten start in the ESB League.

It may well be a different story in a couple of weeks time when the sides meet again at the venue for the quarter-finals of the National Cup but this game was all about Notre Dame. Limerick managed to stay in touch for the first quarter, ending that period 20-18 down, but from then on the lead stretched out in one direction only.

Brandon Hughes continues to lead their scoring, ending this game with a leading 34 points, but with Anthony Jenkins also enjoying a flawless period of form, it wasn't surprising that they had jumped to a 24 point lead by the end of the third quarter.

Limerick, it has to be said, were generally poor. Their defence was no match for the duo of Hughes and Jenkins while Tliotis Brown, Limerick's main source of points, picked up three fouls early in the first half and was cautious for the remainder.

Yesterday's only fixture pitched the in-form Star of the Sea against Tolka Rovers but it was the Dubliners who sneaked the points - 85-84 - and hand the Belfast side only their second defeat of the season. The game had the crowd on the feet almost without exception. The lead changed hands more time than anyone could remember although it was Star who held a narrow advantage at the end of the first and second quarters.

In the third quarter, Tolka jumped to a nine point lead, only to see that reduced to one in the space of 90 seconds. It remained that close until the finish when Jay Fazande combined perfectly with Javier Aurojo to give Tolka the buzzer-beating victory.

Upsetting third-placed Waterford was Tralee's 99-83 win. This seemed to be evenly contested until Waterford took off in the second quarter and finished 17 points clear. That, however, was shortlived once Ricardo Leonard found his feet.

His 33 point total helped Tralee back into the game and when Waterford went an incredible eight minutes without a score, the tide quickly turned.

Also displaying an improvement in form were Killester, who dismissed a brave Tyrone Towers (formally known as Dungannon) on a score of 105-84. The 21-point margin hardly justified the effort of the northerners, who battled hard in an effort to gain their first points of the season.

The big clash in the women's league saw the Wildcats sneak a narrow 73-70 win over defending champions Tolka Rovers. Irish international Suzanne Maguire didn't quite produce the desired comeback for Tolka and they trailed the Wildcats throughout. Still, they fought hard until the end only to see the late efforts of Denise Walsh fall just short and allow the Wildcats to maintain their unbeaten start.