Photo by: Gregory J. Fisher-SportsThroughT
Thornton Named Senior Captain for Irish National Team
8/10/2022 11:58:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women's Hoops Standout, Thornton ('19), Named Captain for Team Ireland
HAMDEN, Conn. - Former Quinnipiac women's basketball standout Edel Thornton has been named as the senior captain of the Ireland senior women's team as announced by the organization this past week earlier in August.
Previously serving as a co-captain for Team Ireland, Thornton was recently elevated to senior captain as the Irish National Team preps for the 2023 Eurobasket Qualifiers with international friendlies.
"The things that I do are being appreciated and that is really important," Thornton said. "How loud I am, how supportive I am to everybody else and just the kind of person I am. Sometimes you're not always sure if that stuff is getting through when you're not the top player, but to have somebody understand how much I actually give to a program is really, really nice."
A veteran in international play, Thornton started with Team Ireland within their U16 and U17 development programs. A starting point guard for the U18 Ireland National Team, Thornton has long been on the scene for the Irish National Teams.In her first stint with the U18 Irish National Team, Thornton led Ireland and ranked seventh at the 2014 European U18 Championships with 15.6 points per game while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor.
"There is just something different when you put on an Irish jersey," Thornton said. "There's just that different sensation of when you're playing for the pride of your country. It's really indescribable until you do it. It's one of those things that's very hard to explain how much of an honor it is."
Thornton joined the senior National Team for the first time during the summer of 2018 and has remained a mainstay since. She was named the Ireland Player of the Year in April of 2020 and suited up for Team Ireland in the 2021 FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries.
"We are thrilled for Edel, but not surprised by this honor," Quinnipiac women's basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri said. "We know Edel takes great pride in representing her country. She came to Quinnipiac seven years ago and helped us to our greatest heights as a program. She was a great competitor, embraced our culture and always put the team first. We know Ireland is in good hands with a great leader and an outstanding person."
Prior to joining Team Ireland full-time, Thornton was a four-year standout with the Bobcats, where she helped lead the program to three MAAC Tournament Championships and three NCAA Tournament victories. Thornton graduated from Quinnipiac in 2019, leaving the program with career totals of 538 points, 231 assists and 130 steals in 118 games for the Bobcats.
"I would not be who I am now if I didn't go to Quinnipiac and I wasn't around the people that I was around, I didn't have Coach Fabbri as my coach and I didn't make the friendships I made there," Thornton added. "I just became a much more vocal and more confident person here. Quinnipiac is where I really honed in on being an actual on-court leader, I would not be the senior captain of the Irish National Team without Quinnipiac."
Thornton, alongside incoming first year Ella O'Donnell and the rest of Team Ireland will be back in action this weekend when they take on Portugal on Saturday and Sunday in an international friendly.
For more updates regarding Quinnipiac women's basketball, follow the program on Twitter and Instagram (@qu_wbb).
Previously serving as a co-captain for Team Ireland, Thornton was recently elevated to senior captain as the Irish National Team preps for the 2023 Eurobasket Qualifiers with international friendlies.
"The things that I do are being appreciated and that is really important," Thornton said. "How loud I am, how supportive I am to everybody else and just the kind of person I am. Sometimes you're not always sure if that stuff is getting through when you're not the top player, but to have somebody understand how much I actually give to a program is really, really nice."
A veteran in international play, Thornton started with Team Ireland within their U16 and U17 development programs. A starting point guard for the U18 Ireland National Team, Thornton has long been on the scene for the Irish National Teams.In her first stint with the U18 Irish National Team, Thornton led Ireland and ranked seventh at the 2014 European U18 Championships with 15.6 points per game while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor.
"There is just something different when you put on an Irish jersey," Thornton said. "There's just that different sensation of when you're playing for the pride of your country. It's really indescribable until you do it. It's one of those things that's very hard to explain how much of an honor it is."
Thornton joined the senior National Team for the first time during the summer of 2018 and has remained a mainstay since. She was named the Ireland Player of the Year in April of 2020 and suited up for Team Ireland in the 2021 FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries.
"We are thrilled for Edel, but not surprised by this honor," Quinnipiac women's basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri said. "We know Edel takes great pride in representing her country. She came to Quinnipiac seven years ago and helped us to our greatest heights as a program. She was a great competitor, embraced our culture and always put the team first. We know Ireland is in good hands with a great leader and an outstanding person."
Prior to joining Team Ireland full-time, Thornton was a four-year standout with the Bobcats, where she helped lead the program to three MAAC Tournament Championships and three NCAA Tournament victories. Thornton graduated from Quinnipiac in 2019, leaving the program with career totals of 538 points, 231 assists and 130 steals in 118 games for the Bobcats.
"I would not be who I am now if I didn't go to Quinnipiac and I wasn't around the people that I was around, I didn't have Coach Fabbri as my coach and I didn't make the friendships I made there," Thornton added. "I just became a much more vocal and more confident person here. Quinnipiac is where I really honed in on being an actual on-court leader, I would not be the senior captain of the Irish National Team without Quinnipiac."
Thornton, alongside incoming first year Ella O'Donnell and the rest of Team Ireland will be back in action this weekend when they take on Portugal on Saturday and Sunday in an international friendly.
For more updates regarding Quinnipiac women's basketball, follow the program on Twitter and Instagram (@qu_wbb).
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