The women playing basketball on a recent night are conscious of the controversies.

Al-Maeena, 29, stressed that her efforts to promote sports are aimed mainly at combating "social ills," such as obesity, osteoporosis and depression, and providing healthy alternatives for women who spend their time shopping and smoking waterpipes.

"We look at it as part of our national duty. It's not just for getting into the Olympics or competing in international games," she said before the game started.

Did she worry about the game being canceled?

"The key is to have publicity later," she said. "It's also a matter of luck, but you're more likely to get lucky in Jiddah compared to other places." The seaport city of Jiddah is the kingdom's most liberal.

One of the toughest things for the women teams is finding coaches, said Lina Abouznada, board member in charge of the sports center at the First Women's Welfare Society, which fields its own team.

They're rare and expensive, she said.

The society, which cares for 36 female orphans, was the venue for last week's game. The players bounced into the center around dusk, dressed in long, loose shorts reaching to the knee and jerseys underneath their flowing abayas, the black cloaks all women must wear in public.

No men were allowed into the society's club. The players had trained in courts they rent at gyms, or in those attached to private homes.

Before playing, the women shed the cloaks, safely doing so under the country's laws because no men were around.

Jamila Antone, the Jaguars' American coach, compared the game to amateurs' leagues playing against each other in the United States — even though the two Saudi teams are among Jiddah's top four.

"If the girls had facilities like boys do for all sports, they will do better than the boys," said Antone.

Norah Ashrur, a 22-year-old special education teacher, watched as her team members, dressed in Jeddah United's uniform colors of raspberry, white and gray colors, played.

"It bothers me that nobody cares," said Ashrur, who lived in Fort Collins, Colo., from the age of 7 to 12. "In the U.S. everybody would be there." But because of segregation rules, not even her dad could come to the game.

At the end, the Jaguars — whose colors are blue, yellow and gray — won.

Abouznada insists that the situation of Saudi female athletes will change for the better. "Doing things step by step is better than doing it in one step," she said.

"But we need to speed it up," al-Maeena interjected.

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