Athinaikos Lose 103-65 at Kibirkstis in Historic EuroLeague Women Debut

By Taki Panos

Some debuts are a celebration. This one was a lesson. Athinaikos Qualco played the first EuroLeague Women game in the club's history on Wednesday night and lost 103-65 to Kibirkstis-TOKS at the Active Vilnius Arena, as Sport24 reported. Sport-fm described it as the club's first ever game in Europe's top women's club competition, and Gazzetta wrote that the Lithuanian hosts set the pace early and never gave up control. Not the opening chapter anyone in Athens had in mind.

A little context for readers who do not follow the women's game week to week. Athinaikos are a club from Athens that FIBA called "star-laden" in its week one recap. They started the season by beating Proteas Voulas 88-65 in the Greek Super Cup final on October 7, the Hellenic Basketball Federation reported, with Mariella Fasoula named MVP after scoring 23 points, per Eurohoops. Kibirkstis, coached by Vilius Stanišauskas, came through the qualifiers and were back in the EuroLeague after a 12-year absence, according to LRT.

The first quarter was the only stretch that looked like a real contest. Kibirkstis led 30-20 after ten minutes, per the FIBA game page, with Daugilė Ūsė scoring the first points of the night for the hosts, LRT reported. The second quarter went the same way, only more so. Kibirkstis won it 22-12 and went into the break ahead 52-32, according to both Sport-fm and Krepsinis.net. Twenty points down on the road, in your first ever game at this level. That is a big ask.

The third quarter is where it got away completely. Kibirkstis opened the second half with a 13-0 run, Krepsinis.net reported, and that pushed the lead to 65-32, the same figure Gazzetta and LRT gave. Athinaikos scored only 10 points in the period, which ended 79-42, according to LRT and Sport-fm. Gazzetta noted that coach Ilias Zouros opened up his rotation looking for fresh energy from the bench, but by then the game belonged to the hosts and their crowd.

The final quarter was close, 24-23 to Kibirkstis per the FIBA quarter scores, but at that point it only shaped the final margin. Gazzetta put it plainly: a 38-point defeat on a historic night. The shooting told most of the story. Kibirkstis made 12 of their 22 three-pointers, Sport-fm reported and Sport24's box score confirmed, while Athinaikos went 7 of 28 from deep, per Sport24, which matches the 25 percent listed on the FIBA game page. When one team makes more than half its threes and the other makes a quarter, there is no tactical secret to uncover.

Credit where it is due to the winners. Nausia Woolfolk led all scorers with 20 points, including 4 of 5 from three, according to LRT and Sport24. Zoe Wadoux came close to a triple-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, FIBA wrote, and Krepsinis.net had the same line. Niyah Becker added 15 points and eight rebounds, Ūsė scored 12 and Dominyka Paliulytė 10, per Krepsinis.net and LRT. Five players in double figures. That is how you put up 103.

For Athinaikos, Fasoula and Julie Vanloo did the most. Both finished with 14 points, according to LRT, with Fasoula adding five rebounds, per Sport-fm, and Vanloo handing out seven assists, per LRT and Krepsinis.net. Ivana Rača added 12 points, according to LRT and Sport24. There was also a local angle for the Lithuanian press. Kamilė Nacickaitė-Van der Horst, the Lithuanian on the Athinaikos roster, scored four points in about 15 minutes and missed all six of her three-point attempts, Krepsinis.net reported.

The reaction in Vilnius was close to disbelief. After the game, LRT ran Stanišauskas's verdict on the result as "we really did not expect that" (translated from Lithuanian), in a headline on his comments. FIBA, meanwhile, was blunt about the visitors. "The alarm bells will be ringing loudly for Athinaikos who had high hopes heading into the season," its recap said, adding that they will be hoping it is nothing more than a false start. Hard to argue with either reading on the evidence of one night.

It is worth remembering what Zouros said a week earlier. After the Super Cup final, he told reporters, "The girls deserved to take the trophy. They have worked very hard," and added that his team needed to "get into rhythm little by little and be ready" for the EuroLeague (translated from Greek), as the federation published. He also dedicated that trophy to Elena Tsineke, saying she was "unfortunately the big absentee" (translated from Greek). Tsineke does not appear in Sport24's box score from Vilnius.

The wider picture is what makes this loss matter. The 16 teams play in four groups of four, and only the top three in each group move on to the Second Round, according to FIBA's competition guide, while the fourth-placed team drops into the EuroCup Women playoffs, as Sport-fm also explained. The other two teams in Group A, Casademont Zaragoza and Basket Landes, played an overtime thriller that Zaragoza won 76-75, per FIBA. Earlier this week, Olympiacos came back from 28 down against Valencia in the men's EuroLeague. There was no such escape act in Vilnius.

My take: one bad night is not a season, but it is a warning. Athinaikos clearly have quality, with Fasoula, Vanloo and Rača all able to score, yet they looked like a team still learning what this level asks of them. Kibirkstis came in sharp after playing through the qualifiers, and that showed. The good news is that results like this are usually followed by a reaction at home. The worry is that a group of four leaves very little room for a second slip. It is a big step forward for women's basketball in a country with such a strong basketball culture, and that alone deserves patience.

What comes next is a quick chance to reset. Athinaikos host Casademont Zaragoza on October 21 at 20:30, Sport24 reported, while Kibirkstis travel to Landes the same day, according to LRT. For more Greek basketball, football and everything in between, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. The first page of this story was rough. There are plenty left to write.

Sources: Sport24, Sport-fm, Gazzetta, FIBA, LRT, Krepsinis.net, Hellenic Basketball Federation, Eurohoops.

Image: Kibirkstis Vilnius logo by S8ris, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).