OMAHA (KMTV) — For the past five years, Elena Pilakouta has called Omaha home. But the UNO senior's actual hometown is 6,251 miles away in Nicosia, Cyrpus.
"It's in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea close to Turkey and Greece."
Pilakouta played for the Cyprus national team growing up and is a two-time player of the year in her home country. But when Omaha offered her the opportunity to come play in America, the six-three center jumped at the chance.
"Now looking back to it I was like 'oh my god that was so crazy.'" said Pilakouta. "I didn't even come here and like see what this is about. I had never heard of Nebraska before. The American culture was a huge shock to me. Obviously, I was expecting it to be different but I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was going to be hard but definitely that first year it was harder than I was expecting especially around holy days and you're suppose to be with your family but I wasn't but I was lucky enough to go through this journey with other international players. My teammates are my family and they're always more than happy to have me with their families."
Pilakouta's parents prefer following their daughter's games during the weekends when the start times are at night in Cyprus as opposed to the weeknight contests when the eight hour time difference takes its toll.
"It's 3 o'clock in the morning and of course, we wake up every time and we follow the game," said Elena's father, George.
Elena's parents had never seen their daughter play in person in the United State nor even set foot on American soil. That is until last week when they surprised her at the beginning of practice a few days before senior day.
"I was not expecting that at all," said Elena. "My mom is scared of airplanes so I was not expecting her to get on that ten-hour flight."
"It was such a special moment," said UNO head coach Carrie Banks. "Just because Elena has meant so much to our program. She takes care of people. She's kind of got that motherly role."
In her final home game for the Mavs, Pilakouta poured in a team-high 18 points in UNO's 83-73 win.
"We are very proud of her," said her father. "We are happy because it was her dream to come to the USA to play basketball,"
"It's crazy special," said Elena. "I feel very loved & supported by everyone here at UNO."
Pilakouta hopes to play professionally in Europe next season after her college career.
