Belfast Star and UCD Marian will enter the Christmas holidays in good cheer following two important wins over Dublin Inter and Templeogue respectively at the weekend.

For Marian, it was their second win in as many weeks after having failed to win a single game prior to that since October 19th and gives them a little bit of breathing space away from the bottom of the table, somewhere a famous club like Marian is not used to being.

Meanwhile, Star's win over Inter was the northerners' first victory after four straight losses. Despite entering the game on a poor run of form, head coach Jose Maria Berrocal maintained afterwards that he never lost faith in his team's talent level.

“We lost games but we were getting better all the time,” said Berrocal. “We fought hard for everything today and won but we played more or less as good as we did versus Demons and others.”

Dublin Inter started much the quicker, jumping out to a six to nothing lead. It was answered by a 10 to zero spurt from Star, giving the Belfast side a lead they were never to relinquish.

Star's defence proved too much for Inter throughout the game, causing some 27 turnovers, quelling any chance the Dubliners had of mounting a comeback as Star eased to an eventual 58 to 72 victory.

Major upset
The Women's Premier League saw Killester cause another major upset on the road as they bested Team Montenotte Hotel in Cork, 67 - 75.

Long considered one of the "big three" alongside DCU Mercy and UL Huskies in women's basketball in Ireland, Montenotte became the latest victim of an in-form Killester outfit who earlier in the season beat Huskies in Limerick.

The only other game from the weekend saw DCU Mercy defeat Liffey Celtics by 10 points.