FIBA EuroCup success still very much within reach for Melia 

FORMER Portlaoise Panthers player, Claire Melia and her BAXI Ferrol team mates remain very much in the hunt for the 2024/25 FIBA Women’s EuroCup title as they trail Villeneuve d'Ascq LM by just three points (78-75) heading into the return leg of this season’s decider in France next week.

The Monasterevin woman, who started out with Portarlington side, Kestrels before joining Portlaoise as an Under 14 player, carded 12 points, four rebounds and six assists, as Ferrol continued their drive to become only the second Spanish side to lift this coveted prize.

Indeed, with just one score separating the two teams heading into next Wednesday night’s second leg, the battle to determine the destination of this season’s title remains very much on a knife-edge.

Melia was one of five players to end the opening leg in double figures for Ferrol, Angela Mataix and Julie Pospisilova combining for a further 33 for the home side.

Yet Carla Leite proved a real thorn in the side of the BAXI defence, the French point guard amassing 25 points on Wednesday night to help give her side a very slight edge heading into next week.

In what was a rollercoaster first half, Villeneuve led by eight at the end of the opening quarter, enlarging that advantage to 12 early in the second only to see Ferrol mount a huge comeback to overtake by two ahead of the half-time recess, setting the stage for a nail-biting second half in which the two sides really went toe-to-toe.

Villeneuve tore from the blocks in this opening leg, inflicting a lot of damage from beyond the arc as they ended that initial period with a 33-25 lead.

Indeed they drained four of their six triple attempts, half of those coming from Shavonte Zellous, as she combined with Leite for 16 points in the opening 10 minutes.

It was Melia who opened Ferrol’s account on the night, twisting and turning in the paint to land a deuce in response to Leite’s early three for the visitors.

While Pospisilova levelled it up at five points apiece for Ferrol, Villeneuve gradually pulled clear as Zellous and Leite began to really impact proceedings.

BAXI were not enjoying the success that their opponents had from downtown, although Melia and Pospisilova did put up a couple of much-needed threes to keep the hosts in touch.

And while the deficit was enlarged to 12 points as Aminata Gueye, Marie-Paule Foppossi and Zellous put up scores from both sides of the arc in the opening three minutes of the second quarter, Ferrol dug in and turned the tables on their French rivals over the course of the next six.

Mataix served up two fine baskets either side of a Moira Joiner layup as Ferrol ignited their impressive comeback with a six-point run.

That was quickly followed by a three-point jump shot and a layup by Melia that book-ended another Mataix two, as the Spanish side recorded a further 10 unanswered points to overtake their opponents into a narrow 44-42 lead by the half-time break.

The two sides traded blows right the way through the third quarter, but back-to-back buckets from Foppossi in the closing minute-and-a-half of that period saw the visitors retake the lead at 63-60.

While Alba Sanchez did take two from the free-throw line to close the gap to one, Villeneuve responded with back-to-back three-point jump shots from Marie-Eve Paget.

The home side, however, refused to allow their opponents garner any serious momentum and remained very much in touch by way of a Mataix deuce and a timely triple by Joiner.

Foppossi and Leite picked up points from the free-throw line as Villeneuve led by six heading into the final minute of play, but it was Ferrol who finished the stronger with a Joiner deuce and Blanca Millan free-throw halving their arrears to three by the final buzzer.

And the gap could have been reduced even further by the close of the tie had Mataix enjoyed a little more luck from the free-throw line late on or Pospisilova gotten her three-point attempt to drop as the clock ticked down.

Still, Melia and her BAXI Ferrol team mates have it all to play for when they head to France for what, is set up to be, an enthralling return leg.