LAT – Greek drama unfolding in Latvia with Maltsi

RIGA (EuroBasket Women) – Greece have made an unexpected trip to the Quarter-Finals of the EuroBasket Women in Latvia.

Now their talisman, EuroLeague Women All-Star Evina Maltsi, is hoping she and her teammates will cash in and book a trip to the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic.

Maltsi, who is averaging a tournament-leading 22.7 points per game, and Greece will go up against France on Thursday.

To reach the Czech Republic, the Greeks need to have a top five finish in Latvia so even a loss to the French would not knock them out of contention for a place in next year’s big event.

If they were to upset undefeated France, however, a top four finish would be assured and so would a place at the FIBA World Championship for Women.

“I do not like big words but we would like very much fifth place,” Maltsi said.

“If we make it –and I know this will be very difficult - we will qualify for the World Championship and that would be something extremely significant.”

Anyone who has followed this Greek team for the past several years will know that it’s already very significant that they have made it to the last eight.

Greece does not have a strong professional league and most of its players are not with big clubs.

Maltsi, the biggest star at ZVVZ USK Prague, is the exception.

Her clutch play on both ends of the floor led Prague to the Czech title this year. Her team dethroned powerhouses Gambrinus Sika Brno.

In Latvia, though, due in large part to the terrific coaching of Kostas Missas, Greece haven’t looked out of place.

They opened the tournament with a resounding win over Hungary and after back-to-back heartbreaking defeats to Poland and Latvia – games that were decided in the final seconds – the Greeks fell hard to Spain.

In t heir final two Qualifying Round defeats, they bounced back to beat the Czech Republic and scraped a narrow triumph over Slovakia – the team that has grabbed many of the headlines in Latvia under their sensational coach Pokey Chatman.

“The truth is that from the beginning when we are concentrated, in the back of our minds there was qualification to the best eight,” Maltsi said.

“After the friendly games in France and Italy, we started believing it. We deserved this qualification.

“We deserve respect. We have shown some things on the court and we worked hard on it. The coaches are leading us in an excellent way.”

There are a lot of factors that go into success.

For Greece, the coaching staff has been first rate.

“We are an orchestra with great conductors,” Maltsi said.

“They scout, discover, read through the opponents and we execute their orders.

“Behind every success there is a secret. In our case, there has been a great struggle, a big effort from all of us. We have a great atmosphere and mood when we all go on the court.

“We are having a good time here in Latvia playing in the EuroBasket. There is nothing else. We stay in the game and we understand everything is getting harder.”

France will present an enormous challenge. They upset Russia, the defending champions, in the last Qualifying Round to clinch first place in Group F.

Maltsi played for France coach Pierre Vincent before at Bourges and she knows his tactics will be difficult to overcome.

“In this competition, anything can happen,” she said.

“We are at the EuroBasket to play some more games. All of the girls are tired, but the other teams are in the same condition.

“We are not putting a roof on our goals. There are certainly big dreams and sometimes not easy to realize but we will go after them.

“Now there is a chance to change things in women’s basketball in Greece because everyone was asking for a success. Now they have the motive."

FIBA