Greek Women's A1 League Greek Cup Semifinals 2009 - Paleo Faliro 93, Aris Holargos 23

An image which might be from the Cup or just an archive image. We'll never know.

What if a country held a professional women's basketball tournament and no one cared? Such a chilling future would be found in Greece, where I only found out from the fine folks at Eurobasket.com that the Greek Cup for the women was being held over the weekend. Only four teams qualified: Paleo Faliro, Aris Holargos, Esperides and Panathinaikos.

Clearly, these seedings were determined a long time ago. With Aris Holargos's pro players walking out due to not getting paid - something I've reported at Pleasant Dreams already - according to Eurobasket, Aris Holargos is now playing with the players on their under-18 club. You can't say that the kids aren't getting some experience, but they're getting little else and most likely, not getting paid.

The only translated article I could find - forget finding a box score - is here. Here is the progression across quarters:

End of first: 29-5
End of second: 49-9
End of third: 70-16
End of fourth: 93-23

As the coach of Paleo Faliro said, this could have been a lot worse if Paleo Faliro didn't slow the game down. I wonder how much longer Greek women's pro basketball can survive with such spectacles presented as cup play.

I believe that Kristin Haynie scored either 2, 4, or 6 points. With the translation, it's very hard to tell. Paleo Faliro probably didn't need her anyway.

P. S.: It looks like some Greek fans are posting some information from these games on their blog. You can look at some pictures from the Esperides/Panathinaikos game, with even a live clip! (The author apologizes for the quality of the film, claiming that the camera had 'Alzheimers, stroke and multiple sclerosis'.)

Also: It looks like some troublemakers from the Panathinaikos fans began throwing water bottles on the court with just 28 seconds left, hitting a referee in the foot. To paraphrase Rebecca of Game Notes of Doom, "Greek basketball, this is why you can't have nice things."

But it looks like there will be a new basketball-devoted website at womba.gr and it looks like the fans have taken reporting into their own hands. Applause to the Greek bloggers.