Armenian women’s basketball team Hatis lost in Orenburg, Russia Thursday to the local Nadezhda 80-65 in the second-leg game as part of the Women’s Euro League 1/16 finals and thus dropped out of further competition.

The first game between the two teams in Yerevan on January 7 also ended to the Russians 80-69. President of the Basketball Federation of Armenia Hrach Rostomyan told ArmeniaNow that Hatis had only eight players in Orenburg, of whom two, Anna Baghdoyan and Tatevik Alexanyan, played very little. (Hatis has a limited number of reserved players)

Serbia’s Milica Dabovic led Hatis in scoring, with 24 points, and the Armenian team led by as much as nine (30-21) in the first half. But Dabovic tired, and her fellow Serb (and captain) Bojana Vulic was playing with an injury and scored only 11 points (whereas she averages 20 a game).

This was the first time that the Armenian team participated in a European tournament and managed to achieve the playoff stage. Within a short period successful performances by Hatis revived interest in basketball in Armenia, drawing full attendance to the 1,250-seat Mika gymnasium.

While the revival has been a novelty to Armenian sport, future plans are uncertain according to team officials.