Wicklow Lady Gators 52, St. Vincent's 34: Having come off an emotional quarter-final win the previous night where the Lady Gators beat a very physical Kilnamanagh team in Kilnamanagh, the Gators did well to secure back to back wins, with tired legs.

The Gators were slow to start and were a little sloppy before they took off and with power forwards Kristine Delahunt, Julie Reid and Yasmine Larkin all hitting from inside the Gators got on the scoresheet.

Strong defensive pressure and steals for Patrica Delahunt increased this lead and the Gators were in control 14-4 after the first quarter.

The second quarter belonged to Erika Davis who shot eight unanswered points from all over the floor heating up to punish the Vincent's zone defence.

Four more points from Katie O'Connor finished out the first half for the Gators who led comfortably 28-13 at half-time.

The second-half was a tighter affair as the Gators defence was caught napping and Vincent's pulled back some baskets, but as it got close the Gator defence upped their game.

Traps from Siobhain Vickers, Sheena Doyle, Stacey Healy and Laura Hodginkson turned over the ball and got the Gators out running on offence, which Patrica Delahunt turned into baskets.

Dominance on the offensive boards saw Kristine Delahunt pull down five rebounds in a row before converting it for a basket.

A couple of three-pointers from the Vincent's point guard kept the game close as a contest as the teams entered the fourth quarter at 34-25. But the Gators always had another gear to go up and this is what they did at the start of the fourth.

Erika Davis and Siobhain Vickers hitting outside shots and Yasmine Larkin and Katie O'Connor scoring inside the game was put out of reach.

Further baskets from Precilla Bennett, Julie Reid and Laura Hodginkson finished out the scoring for the Gators.

For the Gators they have to thank the huge effort that they put into defence and rebounding as Yasmine Larkin, Kristine Delahunt, Julie Reid, Tara Lenihan and Siobhain Vickers dominated on the boards for the Gators.

Scorers: Erika Davis (10 points), Patrica Delahunt (10 points), Kristine Delahunt (8 points), Katie O' Connor (6 points), Julie Reid, Siobhain Vickers and Yasmine Larkin (4 points each), Laura Hodginkson and Precilla Bennett (2 points each).

DUBLIN LEAGUE U-18 GIRLS

Wicklow Lady Gators 52, Portmarnock

38: In keeping up their title chase the Lady Gators cemented their position as second in the league with a good home win against a good shooting Portmarnock side.

This was a close game for the first half as teams traded baskets, with the Gators finding it hard to get into their running game.

The Gators had a good spread of scoring for the first quarter as Julie Reid, Rachel Kavanagh, Laura Hodginkson and Shauna Malone all scored with great shooting. But the Gators only led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter as Portmarnock kept it close.

Two great shots from Alex Copeland gave the Gators a bit of space but that soon was taken away.

Good strong offensive moves from centre Kristine Delahunt kept the Gators in the game as the teams continued to trade baskets.

But at half-time the Gators trailed by one point 25-24. Strong words from coaches and a more determined effort saw the Gators own the third quarter as Rachel Kavanagh, Niamh Whelan and Shauna Malone made great assists to Kristine Delahunt and Julie Reid went to work inside and scored 12 unanswered points, further baskets from Niamh McGettignan and Laura Hodginkson saw the Gators take the lead and keep it.

The swarming defence and pressure of the Gators press proved the changing point in the game as the Gators completely shut down the Portmarnock offence with Tara Lenihan, Rachel Kavanagh and Julie Reid dominating on the defensive boards limiting Portmarnock to five points in the third quarter while the Gators scored 23.

With the game under wraps and the pressure off the Gators ran in the last quarter working the ball and scoring through Tara Lenihan and Niamh McGettigan.

This was a good game for the Gators who had a number of games cancelled and had not played for a number of weeks and needed to get rid of the cobwebs from their offensive game.

Defensively they now are back to normal as Rachel Kavanagh recovers fully from a dislocated finger.

Scorers: Krsitine Delahunt (22 points), Julie Reid and Laura Hodginkson (6 points), Rachel Kavanagh, Alex Copeland and Niamh McGettigan (4 points), Shauna Malone (2 points), Tara Lenihan (2 points).