Claire Melia will carve out her own slice of history this evening when she becomes the first Irish woman to play in a European club basketball semi-final.
The 25-year-old will line out for Spanish side BAXI Ferrol when they take on French team Asvel in the EuroCup Women semi-finals, becoming the first Irish women to appear at this stage of the competition.
Melia, who joined Ferrol in August, has already come through a qualifying round, group stage and two knock-out rounds with her team who go into the semi-finals as underdogs.
However, they have been in that position before in this competition and she's hoping that they can cause another upset in the two-legged tie.
"Our whole team didn't think we'd be where we are now," she admitted. "We were there hoping that we'd get through the group stages to have extra games, not for the season to go by and we'd be busy.
"Now we're here in the final four, so we've got to go out and try our best, that's all we can do.
"There's so much support and they're behind us the whole way. Even if we go out and we don't win and get through to the final, I know they'll still be there supporting us.
"Coming here in August, I never thought that we'd be in the EuroCup semi-final. We were hoping to get through the qualifying round, so to be where we are now is a great achievement already."
Asvel, who won this competition in 2023 and have a host of experienced players, haven already proven themselves in this competition and on the international stage.
However, rather than being intimidated by the quality of her opponents, Melia is eager to test herself against some of the best players in the world.
"It's a great level to be competing at with all those different leagues that they’ve been playing in WNBA players and players that played in the Olympics.
"It's nearly maddening to stop and think about that you're up playing against these type of players. It's great to get the chance to play against them."
