Greek Women's A1 15/2008 - Panathinaikos 58, Paleo Faliro 51

Paleo Faliro (10-5) hoped to stay in third place in the A1 Greek Women's League all by itself, but they would have to come visiting hungry fourth-place Panathinaikos (10-4) to stay there. Paleo Faliro had a horrible second quarter that they couldn't climb out of - no matter how hard Panathinaikos tried to let them - and lost third place to the home team by a score of 58-51.

The box score is here.

Paleo Faliro managed to keep up with the home squad and were only down by five at the end of the first quarter, 22-17. Unfortunately, Panathinaikos would outscore Paleo Faliro 25-8 in the second quarter and put Paleo Faliro down by 22 points at halftime, 47-25. However:

- Panathinaikos would only score six points in the second quarter. Paleo Faliro wouldn't catch the hint...they only scored ten themelves, and were still down 53-35.

- Panathinaikos decided to give the vistors a stronger hint. They only scored FIVE points in the fourth quarter, and only scored 11 points in the second half of the game. Paleo Faliro woke up but could only close the gap to seven points at the end.

Panathinaikos's 42 percent shooting managed to eclipse Paleo Faliro's 32 percent shooting. Paleo Faliro won the battle of offensive rebounds 20-15 - but did Panathinaikos even try to rebound in the second half? There might have been some hope that Paleo Faliro could win it at the foul line, a place they visited 19 times compared to Panathinaikos's six times - but Paleo Faliro only shot 10 from 19 from the free throw line.

Agh.

Three players scored in double figures for Panathinaikos. Erin Thorn scored 15 points and nine rebounds, but shot 7-for-21. Thorn currently plays for the WNBA's New York Liberty, and will play for the Chicago Sky in 2009. Ekateri Spartharou scored 10 points in just 14 minutes of play. Anastasia Kostaki scored 10 points and five rebounds. Kristen Rasmussen would score just four points and play for only nine minutes. (Maybe she's depressed about being waived by the Minnesota Lynx a few weeks ago.)

Teana Miller would try to carry Paleo Faliro on her back, scoring 25 points and 14 rebounds. Unfortunately, no other Paleo Faliro play would come to within double figures. Kristin Haynie would score only three points in 30 minutes of play. Fotoula Volonaki scored seven points and nine rebounds for Paleo Faliro.

Paleo Faliro now has to travel to (currenty, as of this writing) undefeated Athinaikos on Sunday. Good luck, Kristin!

P. S.: Shout out to Rebecca for the corrections.