Spears' B sample also returned positive

Basketball: The B sample of Glanmire's Adriana Spears has also returned positive, leaving the American in a precarious position regarding her future in basketball. A date for her disciplinary hearing will be announced in the coming days.

The Irish Sports Council's (ISC) final duty in the process is to form the disciplinary committee, which will consist of medical and legal experts, with Basketball Ireland's anti-doping officer Jerome Howe presenting the case against Spears.

The 22-year-old from Stratford, Connecticut, was one of the best players in the women's Superleague but has been under temporary suspension since testing positive for cocaine after the Mercy Coolock match at Little Island on November 27th - in which she contributed 24-points.

Spears has not returned from America since Christmas but has intimated to people within the Glanmire club that she intends to contest the findings. The only stumbling block is the financial cost of such an action as Glanmire are not expected to fund the defence.

Even if she does not return, the proceedings will go ahead as Basketball Ireland is signed up to the ISC's anti-doping code, which is in line with the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) code. If Spears is found guilty a mandatory two-year suspension will ensue.

Spears arrived in Ireland in September 2003 from the Boston College Eagles were she represented the Big East All-Star team in 2001, while still a sophomore, and received a USA Today Honourable Mention All-American award while still a student at St Joseph's High School in Trumbell, Connecticut.

Glanmire, who have made excellent progress under coach Seán O'Regan, compete in the National Cup semi-finals for the first time, against UL Aughinish on Friday night, at the National Arena in Tallaght.

Within two weeks of the A sample testing positive Glanmire chairman Timmy Murphy recruited Nigerian international Mobolagi Akiode, who has picked up where Spears left off with a 20-point plus average per game. Akiode, from New Jersey, represented the country of her birth, Nigeria, at the Athens Olympics.