THE format of the Irish Women's Basketball League will be radically altered next season after the IBA's decision to do away with the second division and form a new 12 team super league.
The National Executive examined the various options last weekend in an attempt to curb the slide in standard of the middle and lower range teams playing at national level.
Under the new format, each team will play one another just once, after which there will be a two tier separation of the top six and the bottom six. The higher ranked teams will play off for the championship, while the lower teams will contend for a new National Plate trophy.
There is not expected to be any promotion or relegation to or from the new league for several seasons, but in the long term, it is envisaged that a new regionalised league system will help prepare teams to step up to national level.
Meanwhile, the Irish women's team narrowly lost both of their European championship warmup games in Austria last weekend.
On Saturday, Ireland lost to 67-65 to Austria, while on Sunday they went down 70-63.
