Evanthia "Evina" Maltsi ( el, Εβίνα Μάλτση, 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

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 that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

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 Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability ...

(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 eit ...

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

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

besides her native

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

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 Pri ...

USK Praha USK Praha, ( cs, Univerzitní Sportovní Klub Praha, University Sports Club Prague), formerly known as Slavia VŠ Praha ( cs, Slavia Vysoké Školy Praha), is a Czech professional basketball club that was founded in 1953 in the city of Prague ...

and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. 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 began being 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 ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

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 men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

. 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 Paulauska ...

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 The FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team is the FIBA Europe award that is bestowed upon the five best players of each FIBA EuroBasket tournament. Pau Gasol holds the record for most selections in the All-EuroBasket Team, with seven. FIBA Euro ...

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 WNBA held their annual draft in Cleveland, Ohio. Lindsey Harding of Duke Unive ...

. 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 (LA 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 club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999; it ...

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 The 2007 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 2007 season which ended with the Western Conference champion Phoenix Mercury defeating the Eastern Conference champion Detroit Shock 3-2. Format *The t ...

where Connecticut lost 2–1 to

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

102–72. Greece finished 7th after winning

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

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. 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 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, Ostrava, Brno and Karlovy Vary, ho ...

EuroBasket

2005 FIBA EuroBasket Turkey

Greece finished tenth at the

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

, 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 (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 ...

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 In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the tournament award.

2011 FIBA EuroBasket Poland

Greece finished 13th at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's 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 1939 ch ...

2017 FIBA EuroBasket Czech Republic

At the age of 39 Evina Maltsi was the captain of

which finished 4th at the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 after losing the Bronze medal match to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. 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 concentr ...

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 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's most successf ...

** French Federation Cup : 2007 *

Liga Femenina Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

: 2008 **

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

: 2008 ** Supercopa de España : 2007 *

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

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

: 2017, 2018 **

Greek Basketball Cup The Greek Basketball Cup or Hellenic Basketball Cup (Greek: Κύπελλο Ελλάδος καλαθοσφαίρισης ανδρών) is the top-tier level annual pro basketball national cup competition in Greece. It is organized by the Helle ...

: 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 Guards (basketball) Olympiacos Women's Basketball players Olympic basketball players of Greece Panathinaikos WBC players People from Goumenissa Ros Casares Valencia players Sportspeople from Central Macedonia