Two United States-trained Armenian basketball players and one American now playing for Armenia in the ongoing European Division C Championship in Yerevan, are enjoying playing to Armenia’s enthusiastic fans, even if in the lowest of professional divisions.

Having lived oversees since infancy, Christine Kepenekian, 24, and Arpine Amirkhanian, who turned 21 on Wednesday, very occasionally played under Armenia’s flag as part of the Ararat team, in Glendale, California. And (non-Armenian) American Amanda Jackson, 25, helped Armenia’s revived team, Hatis, make a little bit of history in Armenian basketball by reaching the playoff stage in a prestigious European club tournament earlier this season.

“Unlike Armenia, there are many teams in the United States, hundreds of colleges, each of them having their own basketball team. However, even in the US you may rarely find an active audience during women’s tournaments, because in the United States men’s basketball is much more preferred than women’s basketball,” says Kepenekian, a 5-feet, 5-inch guard who’s been playing basketball for already 17 years.

Since graduating university, Kepenekian – who is pursing a career in law enforcement -- has not played organized ball.

Another American-Armenian, 5-8 center Arpine Amirkhanian hails from North Hollywood, California. A senior at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia, Amirkhanian led her team in rebounding (7.9 per/game) while averaging 10 points per game for the Lady Pirates.

“I will always gladly come to play on the Armenian [national] team, because our girls play very well and with great enthusiasm,” Amirkhanian told ArmeniaNow.

However, both young women say they will probably be able to come to Armenia only for sport-related occasions and stay here for short periods of time. They say that everything is very expensive in Armenia, and besides, there is a problem connected with integration into the new society.

“Having visited [Armenia] several times, I understand that it is very hard to find a job here. You may even have a university diploma, and yet be unemployed,” Kepenekian says with regret.

Basketball has brought not only Armenians, but also one American player, 5-9 guard Amanda Jackson, to Armenia. Jackson, who played for Hatis in the 2009/2010 Basketball Euro League, says she saw the team was of high class and also decided to play under Armenia’s flag. (All three have dual citizenship, as a condition of their being allowed to play for the “national” team.)

Jackson says she has learned some words in Armenian and says her favorite word in Armenian is Hayastan (“Armenia”), which she has heard by fans chanting “Hay-a-stan” during games in Yerevan.

Armenia has ended the preliminary round of the championship with a perfect three-wins-in-as-many-games record in the FIBA Women’s Division C basketball championships that began on June 28 and will last until July 3. Jackson and Kepenikian have been Armenia’s top scorers in defeating Gibraltar, Moldova and Andorra. Both are atop the tournament leader board in points per game, averaging 21.3 and 19 respectively. Amirkhanian, has averaged 7 points and 8.3 rebounds, playing 24 minutes a game.