Claire Melia to become the first Irish woman to play in a European club final

PORTLAOISE Panthers Basketball Club were celebrating yet another success story on Thursday night after former player, Claire Melia and her Baxi Ferrol team mates secured their place in the 2024/25 EuroCup Final.

The Spanish outfit managed to prevent LDLC Asvel Féminin from eating away the 31-point advantage they had established in last week’s semi-final first-leg when the two sides went toe-to-toe again in the return match in Lyon on Thursday night.

While the French side did win out 74-63 in the second game, it was not nearly enough to prise away Ferrol’s tight grip on this penultimate-round fixture, as they set up a date with Villeneuve d'Ascq LM in the two-leg decider which will take place on March 26 and April 2.

It was another big night for Melia, who despite sustaining a cut to the eye in the fourth quarter, still emerged Ferrol’s joint top scorer on 13 points, alongside Blanca Millan, with team mates Angela Mataix and Julie Pospisilova both finishing just one shy of those totals.

Every bit of it was needed to keep their opponents at bay, as Dominique Malonga and Laura Quevedo combined for a 45-point total that helped cut the aggregate deficit to 12 midway through the fourth.

But Baxi delivered the necessary scores down the stretch to ensure they would reach the decider, in what has been a dream debut season for them in the competition.

With Melia having racked up a game-high 27 points in the first leg, Asvel were intent on trying to shackle the Kildare woman on their home court, the French side immediately clogging the paint whenever she came into possession under the board.

Yet it was Melia who opened the scoring in Thursday night’s game with a layup almost three minutes into proceedings before Juste Jocyte responded for Lyon with three successive free throws.

It remained tit-for-tat over the course of that opening period, Melia herself taking one from the free-throw line before producing a nice deuce from perimeter.

Quevedo made shots from both side of the arc to keep the hosts snapping at the heels of the Spanish side who, nevertheless, led 22-20 by the close of the first quarter.

Asvel made a bright start to the second, serving up an eight-point run that included a three-point jump shot from Francesca Pasa and some timely layups by Malonga.

A driving layup by Melia served to halt that surge and the Ireland international got in again to reduce her side’s arrears to just two.

But a superb Kekelly Elenga three and Malonga deuce either side of Pospisilova’s score on the fast break for Ferrol meant the homeside took a 34-28 lead into the second half.

And they continued to pull further ahead, establishing a 15-point advantage just over six minutes into the third quarter, Tea Cleante and Malonga figuring strongly in that surge.

But just as the homeside threatened to really eat into Ferrol’s huge aggregate cushion, the visitors managed to stem the tide and pull it back to 13 following a breath-taking close to that penultimate period that saw four big three-point jump shots registered in quick succession.

And there was still time for Gala Mestres to drop an even more spectacular bucket from downtown in off the glass with five seconds to the buzzer.

An eight-point run in the fourth propelled Asvel 19 points up only to see that run arrested by two timely threes from Mataix and Millan.

And when Baxi served up a further seven unanswered points, that included two free throws from Melia, the finish line was very much in sight for the Spanish side, a Francesca Pasa layup all that Asvel could add to their tally over the closing two minutes.