HOOP DREAMS

Irish basketball star Claire Melia on life, family and taking Europe by storm with her Spanish club

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CLAIRE Melia will make history next week. It's something the Kildare woman is getting used to.

On Wednesday, Melia will become the first Irish woman to play in a European club basket-ball final.

That's after becoming the first to play in a semi-final (and the first to be top scorer) when she starred for Spanish side BAXI Ferrol in their victory over French side Asvel.

She has been a leading player for Ireland for several years and now she's taking Europe by storm — something she couldn't have imagined when she packed her bags in Monasterevin last year to go to Spain.

"Not, not at all!" says Melia. "When we travelled to Italy to play the qualifiers we were saying isn't this a great opportunity to get to play the qualifiers and now here we are, thankfully.

"It's a great achievement for all of us. We might never get into another Euro Cup final in our career so we just have to enjoy the moments and the experiences and take it all in."

Melia's club take on another French side in Villeneuve d'Ascq LM in the two-legged final with the first match in Spain.

She hasn't looked back since joining BAXI Ferrol, proving a driving force on their run from the qualifying round all the way to the final, and outshining players with WNBA and Olympic experience.

"The move to Spain was something that was in the offing for a few years before being copperfastened last year.

The head coach, Lino (Lopez), had been contacting me for a couple of years. It just didn't feel like the right time for me with things at the time but when he contacted me again last year I said I'd give it a go.