Melia out to finish the job in EuroCup second leg

Monasterevin woman, Claire Melia and her BAXI Ferrol team mates are on the brink of securing their place in the 2024/25 Women’s EuroCup Final.

The Spanish side take a 31-point advantage into their semi-final second-leg clash with France’s LDLC Asvel Féminin in Lyon on Thursday night, hoping to complete the task and set up a date with either Hungarian outfit, Sopron Basket or another French side, Villeneuve d'Ascq LM in the two-leg decider starting later in the month.

Melia lit up the court for Ferrol in their opening semi-final leg in Spain last week, the Kildare women’s physical presence and ability in the paint seeing her serve up a game-high 27 points.

It was a superb return for the senior international on, what was, a historic occasion that marked the very first time an Irish woman lined out in a European club basketball competition semi-final.

And her huge contribution, together with that of team mates Blanca Millan, Angela Mataix and Julie Pospisilova, who combined for a further 45 on the scoreboard, went a long way to seeing the hosts emerge 93-62 winners, subsequently exerting a tight grip on this semi-final.

Ferrol did make a slow start to last week’s tie, falling 9-0 adrift of Asvel before storming back for a comprehensive victory, and they will be looking to keep their foot very much on the gas in order not to allow the 2023 EuroCup winners garner any sort of momentum that could threaten their hold on this round.

It has proven a remarkable first EuroCup campaign so far for Melia and Ferrol, who qualified for the knockout stages after finishing level on points with Group J winners, Galatasaray.

A convincing victory over Castors Braine followed that phase and rocketed them through to the last 16 of the competition in which they demonstrated great resilience to make it past DVTK of Hungary.

Indeed, while Ferrol clinched a 78-73 victory in the opening leg at home, they found themselves 18 points adrift of their opponents heading into the final quarter of the second leg the following week.

But they dug deep to outscore their hosts by that very amount over the closing ten minutes and book further passage through to the quarter-finals.

Another huge fourth-quarter display propelled Ferrol to a 95-76 victory away to Dinamo Sassari in the opening leg of their last-eight clash, and they finished off the Italian side at home, running out 89-70 winners in that encounter.

That particular outing on the EuroCup stage saw Melia pick up nine points and lead the way for her team under the boards with a total of eight rebounds to help set them up for a date with LDLC ASVEL Féminin in the last four where she has proven even more impressive.

Indeed, last week’s performance saw the Kildare woman move up to 17th in the FIBA EuroCup standings for total points and she will be hoping to improve on that in Thursday night’s semi-final return leg.

Melia, the 2023/24 Super League Player of the Year, helped Killester to a Super League and Champions Trophy double last season, but the Ireland senior international opted to leave these shores in order to test herself on the continental stage, making the move to Spain in the summer when University of Ferrol head coach, Lino López came in search of her signature.

It is a move that has taken the Kildare woman to the brink of a European final in which she and her team will appear for the first time should they manage to remain beyond the reach of their French rivals on Thursday night.