related news

Home Court: Diaspora and non-Armenian hoop women happy to wear Hayastan basketball colors

Readers' comments

Would you like to post a comment ? Be the first to share your thoughts.

Post a comment

Comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, comments not pertaining to the topic or containing slander or offensive language will be deleted. You have to be registered to be able leave your comment. Sign in or Register now for free.

This coming season Armenia – facing its second schedule after the popular Hatis club was revived last year – will move to Group B play, presumably facing stronger competition. (FIBA consists of three divisions, with ‘A’ being the top.)

Entering the 2011 season next spring, Armenia will face about two dozen teams in Division B. Armenian Basketball Federation President Hrachya Rostomyan told ArmeniaNow the draw for the tournament in the division, which still has to be completed during this summer, will be held at around March next year.

“It is going to be much more difficult for us to get promotion to Division A from there, because Division B consists of very strong sides. So our task is to try to gain a foothold there,” said Rostomyan.

Going into last Saturday’s championship game, Armenia had a perfect 4-0 record in the seven-nation tournament held in Yerevan. The Lady Hayastancis had hardly been challenged, winning by double-digit margins in all its contests going into the championship game facing defending Division C champs Malta.

Armenia was in trouble early, trailing 36-23 at the half, but coach Gia Khazanchyan’s team rallied to within one point and trailed by only three (62-59) with less about four minutes left. The gritty Malta team held on, though, and Armenia never got closer than within five points in the last bit of the contest.

A crowd estimated at 1,900 attended the championship game at Mika Gym, setting a record in attendance for the little-popularized FIBA division.

In a high spot for the host team and its fans, Christine Kepenekian, one of three Americans (she was born in Yerevan) on the national team was named the tournaments Most Valuable Player.

Armenia never allowed their opponents to get comfortable, and it was another Kepenekian three-ball that cut Malta’s advantage to 62-59 with 4:18 remaining. Kepenekian averaged 22 points and 7 rebounds per game over the five games. Teammate Amanda Jackson was close behind at 21.8 and 7.6.