The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Greek women finish seventh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Olympic Games

Greek women finish seventh

ATHENS, AUG. 27. Evanthia Maltsi scored 29 points on Friday as Greece capped an impressive debut in women's Olympic basketball with an 87-83 victory over New Zealand to finish in seventh place.

Greece (3-4) was included in the 12-team field only because it was the host nation. It had only been in two major international competitions before, finishing 10th at the 2001 European Championships and ninth in the same event last year.

Maltsi averaged 20.9 points per game to lead Greece on the court, while enthusiastic home crowds certainly helped off it.

Greece earned a berth in the final eight with a 93-91 victory over Japan in the final preliminary game, but was outgunned in a 102-72 loss to the United States in the quarterfinal.

When the game against New Zealand ended, the Greece team joined hands and saluted the crowd of 6,560 at the Olympic Indoor Hall one last time.

Greece scored its last eight points against New Zealand from the free throw line. Polymnia Saregkou gave Greece the lead for good at 82-80 with two free throws with 1:19 to play. Dimitra Kalentzou sealed the win with two free throws with 1.8 seconds left after Angela Marino's three-pointer brought New Zealand within 85-83.

Donna Loffhagen had 23 points and 15 rebounds for New Zealand (2-5), which improved on its 11th-place finish on its Olympic debut four years ago.

New Zealand lost 94-55 to Australia in the quarterfinals. — AP

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