Claire Melia confident Baxi Ferrol can overturn first leg EuroCup deficit
Claire Melia with her Baxi Ferrol teammates during the EuroCup Women final first leg. Pic: Fiba
Claire Melia is confident her Baxi Ferrol side can pull off an upset in the second leg of the EuroCup Women final in France next week.
Melia’s side narrowly lost the home leg 78-75 to Villeneuve d’Ascq in front of a raucous crowd in Galicia. The Ireland international said the team believes it can turn things around in a week.
“It’s a difference of one shot. We missed a few three pointers and free throws. On other days, they’ll go in. You never know what can happen. We went out and enjoyed it, hopefully we will next week too,” she said.
The Monasterevin native became the first Irish woman to ever play in a European club final on Wednesday night. In the process, her 12 point tally also surpassed those of the three previous Irish citizens to reach European finals, namely Pat Burke, Will Hanley, and James Metecan Birsen.
Melia said she rarely thought about stats or the place in history when it comes to her basketball.
“I wouldn’t know all that if people didn’t tell me to be honest. It was a good game. We went down by 11 points at one stage but we came back into it. They were a good physical strong team and it was a great game,” she said.
Melia’s entrance onto the floor in the second quarter turned the game on its head. Just when it looked like the French side might get comfortable, she drove her team back in front. Melia was unaware of the impact until after the game.
“You don’t notice it sometimes until you look up at the scoreboard. It was a good game and it went well. We competed, it wasn’t like we were thrown off the court,” she said.
“There could still be nerves with an away game but I’m going to enjoy the moment. It’s important to recognise the great atmosphere that was here today and take it all in.”
Melia is playing her first season in Spain and she has fallen in love with the city. She even has her own fan club, the Claires Gang are a fixture in the stands with wigs and flags in tribute to their Irish star.
“It’s great. We lost that game but the support was still there. It’s there all the time. They are great people,” said Melia.
“There’s always someone behind me with an orange wig on or an Irish flag. I never thought coming out here that it was going to be like that.”
The second leg of Baxi Ferrol’s Eurocup Women final against Villeneuve d’Ascq takes place in Lille on Wednesday 2 April and will be free to view on the competition’s website.
“It hasn’t hit me yet and it probably won’t until after the season. It’s important to enjoy the moment and it’s great to have family and friends here. We’ll go out and celebrate even though we lost.
“We’ll enjoy the moment because you never know if it will ever come around again.”
