Evanthia "Evina" Maltsi (; born 30 December 1978) is a Greek former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

. In 2007, she played for

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...

in the WNBA, appearing in 29 games, 26 in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

(7 as a starter) and 3 in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. A three time Euroleague All-Star (2007–2009), Maltsi has a long career in European club basketball, having played in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

besides her native

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and she has won numerous titles as a player of CJM Bourges,

Ros Casares Valencia Ros Casares Godella was a professional women's basketball team based in Godella, Spain. It played in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto between 1996 and 2012, when it resigned to play in EuroLeague and Spanish League. It continued playing in Primer ...

USK Praha USK Praha (, University Sports Club Prague), formerly known as Slavia VŠ Praha (), is a Czech Republic, Czech professional basketball Club (organization), club that was founded in 1953 in the city of Prague. USK Praha plays in the National Bas ...

and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. Maltsi is the captain of

Greece women's national basketball team The Greece women's national basketball team is the representative for Greece in international women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketba ...

, having represented her country in several

Eurobasket Women EuroBasket Women is a biennial international women's basketball competition held between the nations of FIBA Europe for women's national teams. EuroBasket Women is also used as a qualifying tournament for the FIBA Women's World Cup and also the ...

, the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

. She led the Greek national team to the fifth place in 2009 FIBA Eurobasket earning the

EuroBasket MVP The FIBA EuroBasket MVP is the FIBA Europe honor that is bestowed upon the Most Valuable Player of each FIBA EuroBasket tournament. Pau Gasol and Krešimir Ćosić share the record for most EuroBasket MVP awards, with two each. Modestas Paulausk ...

award, a remarkable feat considering that Maltsi was voted MVP despite the fact that Greece didn't enter the semi-finals. She was also the FIBA EuroBasket 2009 Top Scorer and steals leader, averaging 22.6 points and 3.1 steals per game. She has been elected to the All-EuroBasket Team two times, the first in 2009 and the second in

Eurobasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

where, at the age of 38, she led Greece to the semi-finals and the fourth place in the tournament, their best ever Eurobasket performance.

WNBA career

Maltsi played for the Connecticut Sun in the

2007 WNBA season The 2007 WNBA season was the Women's National Basketball Association's 11th season. On January 3, 2007 The Charlotte Sting folded. Three months later on April 4, the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA held their annual draft in Clevela ...

. She appeared in 29 games for Connecticut, 26 in the regular season (7 as a starter) averaging 5.7 points (41.6% 3-point percentage), 1.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. She scored a WNBA career high 23 points with 5/5 3-point shots against the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

on 7 July 2007, leading Connecticut in a 110–87 away win.Όταν η Μάλτση έκανε πλάκα στο WNBA
gazzetta.gr 23 June 2017 (in Greek) She also played in 3 games in the 2007 WNBA Playoffs where Connecticut lost 2–1 to

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

in the first round. Sun wanted Maltsi to return for next year, but she had difficulties with her job in Greece.

Olympic Games

Evina Maltsi participated for the first time in Olympic Games in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens. Greece reached the quarter-finals but lost to the eventual champions

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

102–72. Greece finished 7th after winning

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with score 87–83. Evina scored 20.9 points per game and she was third in the list, holding the tournament's record for most points in a game, with 33 against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. She had also 8.0 rebounds per game and she finished fifth at the tournament in this category.

World Championships

She finished third in scoring at the

2010 FIBA World Championship for Women The 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women, the 16th edition of International Basketball Federation, FIBA's premier tournament for women's national basketball teams, was held from September 23 to October 3, 2010 in the Czech Republic. Three cities ...

EuroBasket

2005 FIBA EuroBasket Turkey

Greece finished tenth at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2005 The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly known as FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as the European qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, awardin ...

, with Maltsi being the ninth highest scorer of the tournament with 92 total points and 13.1 points per game. She was also one of the best players of the tournament.

2007 FIBA EuroBasket Italy

Greece finished thirteenth at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

2009 FIBA EuroBasket Latvia

Evina Maltsi led Greece into the 5th place for the first time. They lost their quarter-final to

by two points, 51–49. But Greece won two consecutive matches and took the fifth place. First they won the classification round against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

with score 64–59, and then they became Europe's fifth best national team, beating Italy for the fifth place game with score 60–56. Maltsi was the FIBA EuroBasket Top Scorer and the FIBA EuroBasket steals leader. She was also selected in the FIBA EuroBasket All-Star Team and was EuroBasket's best player winning the FIBA EuroBasket

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the tournament award.

2011 FIBA EuroBasket Poland

Greece finished 13th at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the Euro ...

2017 FIBA EuroBasket Czech Republic

At the age of 39 Evina Maltsi was the captain of

which finished 4th at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

after losing the Bronze medal match to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. This was the first time in the history that

played for a medal. Maltsi finished second in scoring at the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

with 113 points and sixth in the PPG list with 16.1 points per game. She had also 4.1 assists per game finishing eighth at the tournament and 6.6 rebounds per game being the tenth best player in this category at the tournament. Evina Maltsi was Greece's best player and one of the best in the whole tournament and as a result she was selected for the FIBA EuroBasket All-Star Team for the second time after 2009.

Honours

CJM Bourges Basket Tango Bourges Basket (formerly ''Cercle Jean-Macé Bourges Basket'') is a French professional women's basketball club from Bourges. Bourges was the first French team to win a FIBA women's competition, the 1995 Ronchetti Cup. So began the club' ...

** French Federation Cup : 2007 *

** Liga Femenina : 2008 **

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

: 2008 ** Supercopa de España : 2007 *

** Czech Basketball League : 2009, 2011 ** Czech Basketball Cup : 2010, 2011 *

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

: 2017, 2018 **

Greek Basketball Cup The Greek Basketball Cup or Hellenic Basketball Cup (also stylized as Basket Cup; Greek: Κύπελλο Ελλάδος καλαθοσφαίρισης ανδρών) is the top-tier level annual professional basketball national cup competition i ...

: 2017, 2018

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maltsi, Evanthia 1978 births Living people Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi basketball players Antakya Belediyespor players Botaş SK players Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Connecticut Sun players Greek expatriate basketball people in France Greek expatriate basketball people in Poland Greek expatriate basketball people in Spain Greek expatriate basketball people in Turkey Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek women's basketball players 21st-century Greek sportswomen Guards (basketball) Olympiacos women's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Greece Panathinaikos WBC players People from Goumenissa Ros Casares Valencia players Sportspeople from Central Macedonia