Magnificent Melia lights up European semi-final

A superb performance by Monasterevin’s Claire Melia in Spain on Thursday night helped see Baxi Ferrol record an impressive 93-62 victory over France’s LDLC Asvel Féminin, as the Spanish side took a huge step towards securing their place in the 2024/25 Women’s Euro Cup Final.

In what was a historic night for Irish basketball, with Melia becoming the first Irish woman to contest a European club basketball competition semi-final, the Kildare native served up a game-high 27 points for her side.

Her tremendous contribution on the scoreboard, together with the combined 45 from team mates Blanca Millan, Angela Mataix and Julie Pospisilova, went a long way to propelling the homeside to a superb result that leaves them on a sound footing ahead of next Thursday’s return leg in Lyon.

It was a slow start to this penultimate round tie for the hosts, Lyon opening up a 9-0 lead after Laura Quevedo followed up on Ainhoa Risacher’s layup with a three, before Dominique Malonga began to make her presence felt in the paint.

But, led by Melia, Ferrol began to work their way back, the Kildare woman serving up the opening seven points for the hosts, which included a sublime three-point jump shot.

The Spanish side continued to snap at the heels of the visitors and drew level at 19 points apiece before taking the lead for the first time in the game by way of an ‘and one’ by Mataix with 43 seconds of the first quarter remaining.

Pospisilova also got in to see Ferrol end the first quarter with a 24-19 lead, and they managed to push that advantage out to 14 points in the second, Melia twisting and turning her way in for couple of buckets within less than two minutes of being re-introduced.

Lyon cut the gap to nine only to see Ferrol end the first half with a 10-point run that stretched their lead to 49-30 by the break, Melia, herself, accounting for the last score of that period with an ‘and one’ that took her tally to 14 points by that stage.

And the Kildare woman picked up in the third right where she left off in the second, draining two free throws before landing buckets from both sides of the arc to help see her side take a 72-46 cushion into the fourth quarter.

Ferrol managed to keep the visitors very much at bay over the closing 10 minutes, Melia inflicting some more damage down the stretch as she served up two hook shots either side of layup to help see her side run out convincing 31-point winners, and exert a very tight grip on this semi-final.

Melia, has long been hailed as one of the greatest basketball players to emerge from Ireland, scooping the 2023/24 Super League Player of the Year accolade after she played a major part in helping Killester to a Super League and Champions Trophy double last season.

Looking to take on a whole new challenge, she opted to answer the call of University of Ferrol head coach, Lino López when he, again, came in search of her signature last summer, making a move that could well take her all the way to a European final.