Claire Melia became the first Irish woman to reach a European club basketball final last night.
The Kildare woman scored 40 points over two legs, as her Ferrol side saw off Lyon in the EuroCup semi-final.
She follows in the footsteps of Irish basketball legend Pat Burke, who won the EuroLeague Championship with Panathinaikos back in 2000.
Basketball Ireland statement:
Ireland international Claire Melia is set to become the first Irish woman to play in a FIBA European club final. Her Spanish team Baxi Ferrol lost 74-63 to French outfit LDLC ASVEL Feminin in the second leg of their FIBA EuroCup Women semi-final in Lyon on Thursday, however they advanced to the final 156-136 on aggregate.
Melia scored 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the game at Palais des Sports Gerland.
Baxi Ferrol will play French opponents once more, Villeneuve d'Ascq LM, in a two-legged FIBA EuroCup Women final, which will begin in Ferrol on March 26th, followed by the return in France on April 2nd.
Taking a 93-62 advantage from the first leg - in which Melia scored 27 points - Baxi Ferrol were in control of the semi-final tie, as their opponents chased down a 31 point deficit. LDLC ASVEL Feminin did lead by 19 points midway through the fourth quarter of the second leg, 69-50, but they were restricted to just three more points after that. Back-to-back three’s by Angela Mataix and Blanca Millan and a pair of Melia free-throws down the stretch helped settle things for Baxi Ferrol.
It is a first FIBA EuroCup Women final for Melia’s club, while their upcoming opponents won the competition in 2015 and were losing finalists in last season’s FIBA EuroLeague Women. Ferrol are looking to become just the second Spanish team to win the FIBA EuroCup Women in the competition’s 23-year history.
Melia, who scored 26 points in Ireland’s most recent FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers game with Latvia in February, is no stranger to trophy success, having won a treble domestically with The Address UCC Glanmire in 2021/22 and a double with Killester last season, before her switch to play in Spain this season.
