Ireland basketball captain Edel Thornton reacts to her side win over Azerbaijan.

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Big Red Bench, Saturday and Sunday from 6 p.m. Cork's Red FM.

Harry Hayden (0:07)

Right, we're delighted to be joined on the line all the way from Baku in Azerbaijan by Edel Thornton, the Irish Women's Basketball team captain. Edel, congratulations, very satisfying day at the office, wasn't it?

Edel Thornton (0:18)

Yeah, thanks for having me, Harry. It was a great day at the office now today, in fairness. After a loss on Wednesday, it was nice to come back with a win today.

Harry Hayden (0:27)

Yeah, like 91-73, obviously, the final score. Very comprehensive, there would have been probably a fair bit of pressure going into the game, obviously, after what happened on Wednesday, and that was obviously a disappointing result. How did you sort of deal with that pressure?

Edel Thornton (0:40)

I suppose I don't think, I suppose we were trying to learn a new way of playing and a new system under a new coaching staff.

I guess we didn't really let the pressure come towards us, if that makes sense. So we weren't really, we didn't really feel under pressure. We were just trying to perform the best that we knew we could. So like all of the little things, being where we want to be on defense, getting the shots that we want to get, and it'll take care of itself if we do those things.

Harry Hayden (1:07)

And obviously, it was a quick turner from Wednesday as well, and you're traveling over to Azerbaijan, not exactly across the road, like a four hour time difference. How did you kind of deal with that as the team as well?

Edel Thornton (1:18)

I think, in fairness, we've gotten a lot of experience at that over the past couple of years.

It is tough traveling within the window, but when you have a certain group of people around you or we're just on to the next place and on to the next game, it kind of just takes care of itself when you have really good people in your circle. We just, we travel for the day. We'll do it again tomorrow. We'll train on Monday as the game day again the next day. So, you know what, we've learned how to manage it.

Harry Hayden (1:45)

Like just looking at the game, you settled into it very quickly. I don't think you actually trailed once in the game. I know obviously Azerbaijan, they stayed with you for a lot of the game and then you kind of pulled clear towards the end. How important, though, was it to kind of get that quick start, especially obviously when you're traveling to Baku, it was their home arena as well?

Edel Thornton (2:02)

Yeah, it is important to put some points on the board early for sure.

We're kind of trusting our process and knowing that we're going to get shots later in the game. It's just kind of getting, making those shots early can really change the game for someone. Now, we trust ourselves a lot in terms of taking the shots and trusting that we're going to make them. So when they go in early, it just kind of takes the bite out of it that we're ready to go. Those shots are going in, we're ready for road then.

Harry Hayden (2:30)

Obviously, looking at Azerbaijan, Erika Carter was kind of the real threat everyone was talking about before the game. And she obviously, she started the game really well, but I kind of thought you dealt with her kind of very well towards the end. What was the kind of plan going in to stop her? Because she is obviously the star player, I suppose, for them.

Edel Thornton (2:47)

Yeah, I guess, look, there was a bit of focus on her.

But again, we kind of emphasised it from a team perspective. And, you know, yeah, whoever is guarding her needs to be really, you know, really effective. Put everybody together at some point, you know, and it was very much kind of a team focus in terms of how do we slow down Carter and make other people beat us. Now, other people did start to score, obviously, as the game went on. So we had to adjust that way as well. But I thought we managed it very well, to be honest. You know, we put them in the position that we want them to be in. And, you know, we got the result at the end of it.

Harry Hayden (3:19)

Just looking at your side, obviously, Máire Fitzpatrick, she led the way with 21 points. I think she got three assists as well. How good is it to have a player of her quality in your side?