Greece won for the second time in the EuroBasket Women Qualifying Round by upsetting Slovakia on Monday but it may end up being not enough to reach the Quarter-Finals.

With scoring machine Evina Maltsi pouring in 22 points - 18 in the second half - the Greeks scraped a 59-57 triumph.

They will now be hoping that the struggling Czech Republic does them a favor by beating Poland in Monday's second game at the Arena Riga because that is the only result that will allow the Greeks to

Zuzana Zirková contributed 13 points in the loss.

leapfrog the Poles and claim the fourth and final qualifying spot from Group E for the last eight.

"We deserved that win," Greece coach Kostas Missas said.

"The most difficult thing for my team was to find the spirit for this game as our qualification wasn't decided by this result.

"But my players found the spirit and did so."

Greece are unrecognizable from the side that tumbled out of the EuroBasket Women two years ago in Chieti, Italy, when they lost all three of their Preliminary Round games.

Missas has been a master at drawing up game-plans in Latvia and he needed a good one to beat Slovakia, the side that caused the biggest stir of this tournament by upsetting hosts Latvia in front of more than 6,000 fans on Saturday night.

Slovakia clinched a place in the Quarter-Finals with that victory but they wanted to win on Monday to keep the momentum going and grab a higher seed for the next phase of the competition.

"For us, our plan on defense was to pressure them for 40 minutes," Missas said.

"We had many problems on offense and that was due to Slovakia's pressing defense. But we were patient at the right moments."

The pressure defense of Greece led to many of Slovakia's 22 turnovers - the most they have committed in the competition so far.

"Congratulations to Greece," Slovakia coach Pokey Chatman said.

"This was a fine Greece team and it was a game between two strong teams. That is why the game was ugly at times but that is the credit of two teams that battled strong.

"We never quite got in the rhythm and that was a credit to Greece. When you turn the basketball over 22 times, you don't give yourself an opportunity."

Martina Gyurcsi and Zuzana Zirkova, the dynamic duo from the win over Latvia, didn't shine against the Greeks.

Gyurcsi (5pts) had five of her team's turnovers while Zirkova (13pts) had four turnovers.

"You learn a lot by winning, but also by losing games," Chatman said. "So we will analyze this game and look to our next one."

Maltsi has been one of the best, if not the best player at the EuroBasket Women.

The EuroLeague Women All-Star and the leading figure in USK Prague's Czech ZBL title winning campaign this season was four of nine from three-point range against Slovakia.

She is averaging 22.7 points per game in Latvia but is also averaging a competition best 3.3 steals. Number two is Anna Montanana of Spain, who is coming up with 2.6 steals per contest.

The challenge for Missas and Greece is to allow Maltsi to use her great talent to the full but within the team concept.

That part of the game-plan worked to perfection against the Slovaks because the impressive Pelagia Papamichail (9pts, 10rbs) only came up a point short of a double-double in scoring and rebounds and point guard Dimitra Kalentzou poured in 13 points while handing out five assists.

The Greeks may or may not stay in Latvia for the Quarter-Finals. If they don't, at least they will leave the Baltics with a good taste in their mouths after beating the Slovakians.

Slovakia have taken the EuroBasket Women by storm, with Saturday's 78-69 triumph over hosts Latvia in a rowdy Arena Riga providing the national side with arguably the most thrilling moment in its history.

Back in the Final Round for the first time since 2003, Zuzana Zirkova and Co have taken advantage by clinching a spot in the Quarter-Finals with four victories in their five games in Latvia.

They will go for a third Qualifying Round win on Monday when they go up against Greece, a team they played in three friendly games in the build-up to the tournament.

"The three games that we played against them were just practice," said Slovakia coach Pokey Chatman. "It meant nothing.

"We were learning then. Both teams were without key players.

"Greece is an exciting team, they show emotion, play with energy.

"We are going to have to double-up our defense but we also have to make sure we do the job at both ends of the court."

Greece and Evina Maltsi have provided the competition with some of its most exciting moments.

After winning in Group B over Hungary, they suffered narrow defeats to Poland and Latvia while in the Qualifying Round they have lost heavily to Spain and beaten the Czech Republic.

Maltsi wasn't surprised that Slovakia overcame the loss of Ivana Jalcova to a broken finger in their victory over Latvia.

"She's a good player and they are going to miss her but their strength is that they play as a team, so we can't expect that to hurt them," Maltsi said.
 
Last Time Out: Slovakia beat Greece 81-74 in the Preliminary Round of the EuroBasket 2001.
 
Key Match-Up:  Slovakia's Zuzana Zirkova vs Greece's Evina Maltsi.  Zirkova poured in a game-high 24 points in their victory over Latvia. She stole the show eight years ago when she had a game-high 22 the last time both teams met. Slovakia managed to limit Latvian superstar Anete Jekabsone-Zogota to six second-half points and they will need to apply the same pressure if they are to slow down the high-scoring Maltsi (22.8ppg).

Stats: Slovakia had nine of their 14 steals in the second-half and scored 27 points off Latvia's 21 turnovers. Greece finished level with the Czech Republic in the rebounding department at 38-38.
 
X-Factor: Slovakia will be looking for another great performance from Martina Gyurcsi. The veteran forward scored 13 of her 17 points in the third quarter, dished out four assists and came up with three steals.

Sounding-Off: "Slovakia is a very good side. They play similar defense to us. I believe that whoever shows more heart in the game, will take the win" - Greece head coach Kostas Missas.