Round 18
By Orli Klinger
With only 3 rounds left in the regular season, the battle for the #1
seed is
officially over. Ramat Hen took a big step towards securing the #2
spot, but
still has two tough road games left and needs to win at least one. The
race
for the final playoff spot is still wide open as three teams are
currently
tied for fourth.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 86 – YES Ramat Hasharon 57
Ramat Hen hasn’t looked this good all season long, and Ramat Hasharon
never
looked this bad. Usually when games between evenly matched teams end in
such
a blowout the final result is a little misleading, but I’m not sure you
can
bring up that cliché in regards to this game. Ramat Hen frustrated
Ramat
Hasharon on both ends of the court in a perfect 2nd half, winning 58-32
and
tightening its grip on the 2nd place in the standings.
Ramat Hasharon played well early on, as four players were scoring with
Limor
Mizrachi running the offense. But Ramat Hen had the answers, and
trailed
only 18-14 after 1. Ramat Hen started to heat up in the 2nd and used
strong
team defense to rail off 9 unanswered points with Monika Kovac leading
the
breaks. A 3 point play by Ina Gourevitch ended the drought for Ramat
Hasharon, but they only managed 7 points in the quarter and trailed
25-28 at
the half. Vicky Hall led Ramat Hen with 12 points, while Tracy Reid and
Rhonda Mapp led the visitors with just 6 points each.
In the 2nd half Ramat Hen decided it wasn’t quite time for a playoff
like
grinder, and scored more points in the 3rd quarter than in the entire
first
half thanks to, among others, 3 threes by Rivi Grinboym. A three by
Limor
Mizrachi cut the gap to just 34-38 with about 5 minutes left in the
3rd, but
everything went downhill for Ramat Hasharon after that. Monika Kovac in
a
great game made it 52-39 with a 3 point play, a beautiful assist from
Marianna Raguz to Hall increased the gap to 15, and Ramat Hen led 57-42
after three.
Simone Edwards made it a 20 point game with a 3 point play, drawing
Rhonda
Mapp’s 5th foul. Ramat Hen wouldn’t let up as a three pointer by Raguz
put
the locals up by 34 and added an exclamation point to Ramat Hen’s
statement
– we want to go one step further than last season.
For Ramat Hen:
Simone Edwards – 21 pts (6/11 FGs), 15 rebs
Vicky Hall – 24 pts (12/22 FGs), 5 rebs
Marianna Raguz – 15 pts (3/4 2pt FGs, 3/4 3pt FGs)
Rivi Grinboym – 14 pts
Monika Kovac – 6 pts, 7 ast, 5 steals
For Ramat Hasharon:
Ina Gourevitch & Gulsah Akkaya 11 pts each
Tracy Reid – 10 pts
Rhonda Mapp – 8 pts
Lidiya Varbanova – 7 pts
Limor Mizrachi – 7 pts
Maccabi Raanana 79 – Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 61
Big win for Raanana that significantly helps its playoff hopes. The
first
quarter was even and ended in 20-20 tie. Raanana went up 27-22 in the
2nd
but Aleksandra Music and Rinat Zalts-Levin narrowed the gap. Raanana
led
32-30 with about two and a half to go in the half, but a 7-0 run that
included five points from Anat Goldberg opened a 9 point lead. Raanana
maintained the gap and took a 41-32 lead to the locker room.
Things weren’t looking up for Haifa/Motzkin, but they kept playing and
closed to within one, until Edwina Brown hit Raanana’s first basket in
the
half and added a steal and a lay-up for a 45-40 lead. Music made sure
Haifa/Motzkin stayed in striking distance and they trailed 55-50 after
3,
but it didn’t look too close considering the tempo of the game.
Haifa/Motzkin continued to struggle with getting the ball inside to
LaNisha
Cartwell, and even when they did not much came out of it. Raanana went
on an
11-0 run and led 66-50. Adi Kindler hit Haifa/Motzkin’s first basket
with
only six minutes to play, and the winner’s identity wasn’t in question
the
rest of the way.
For Raanana:
Edwina Brown – 32 pts, 10 rebs & 6 stl
Nili Natho – 13 pts
Tatum Brown – 13 pts
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Aleksandra Music – 18 pts
Lili Latinovic – 13 pts, 6 TOs
Yelena Mostafina – 9 pts
Elizur Ramla 96 – Bnei Yehuda 67
Beni Yehuda didn’t look like a team fighting for a playoff spot as
Ramla
cruised to its 15th win.
For Ramla:
Alicia Thompson – 29 pts (12/18 FGs), 13 rebs
Amber Hall – 22 pts (10/19 FGs), 10 rebs & 3 steals
Ornit Shwartz – 13 pts, 4 rebs
Liron Cohen – 12 pts (5/10 FGs), 5 rebs & 3 ast
Natasha Branchikova – 8 pts
Tynesha Lewis – 5 pts (2/7 FGs) in 18 mins
For Bnei Yehuda:
Leslie Johnson – 22 pts (8/15 FGs, 6/7 FTs), 5 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem – 19 pts (5/14 2pt FGs, 3/5 3pt FGs), 5 rebs
Ina Boutenko – 11 pts
Maccabi Ashdod 88 – Elizur Holon 63
After 32 seasons, 20 championships and 18 Israeli Cups, Elizur Holon
says
goodbye to the 1st division and officially falls to the last place.
However,
if by some miracle they manage to scrape a big enough budget, they’d
probably be back next season.
For Ashdod:
Vika Rudovski 23 pts, Sarit Arbel 19 pts, Crystal Givens 15 pts
For Holon:
Hen Shtain 21 pts, Limor Peleg 12 pts
Round 18’s MVP – Monika Kovac
The key to Ramat Hen’s huge win against the defending champs was tough
team
defense in general, and Kovac’s suffocating defense on Limor Mizrachi
in
particular. Mizrachi finished with just 7 points, one point more than
her
season low that was set a few weeks ago against Ramat Hen. Kovac
finished
with 6 points, 7 assists, 5 steals and a big W.
Round 18’s First Team:
Monika Kovac – could she be the player that can contain Limor Mizrachi?
Edwina Brown – Brown has become Raanana’s go-to player, and one of the
most
exciting players in the league. She put up 32 points, 10 rebounds and
six
steals in an important win over Haifa/Motzkin.
Alicia Thompson – Thompson continues to impress, and this time finished
with
29 points & 13 boards in the win that officially secured Ramla the #1
seed.
Vicky Hall – scored 24 points in a great game that let Ramat Hasharon
know
that the road to the championship goes through Ramat Hen.
Simone Edwards – Simone took Mapp out of the game literally, finishing
with
21 points and 15 rebounds in Ramat Hen’s impressive victory.
Just missed: Rivi Grinboym, Amber Hall and Marianna Raguz.
Round 18’s Bust Team:
Limor Mizrachi – had a very bad game and lost the match-up with Kovac
big
time.
Rhonda Mapp – scored only 2 points after the first quarter and didn’t
seem
to bother Ramat Hen’s posts too much.
Lidiya Varbanova – shot under 50% from the field for the first time
this
season.
LaNisha Cartwell – only 6 points against Raanana who also plays with
only
one post.
Lili Latinovic – couldn’t handle the tough rims in Raanana and missed
all
four of her threes to go along with 6 turnovers.
The Standings:
1. Elizur Ramla 15-3
2. Maccabi Ramat Hen 12-6
3. Ramat Hasharon 11-7
4. Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 8-10
5. Maccabi Raanana 8-10
6. Bnei Yehuda 8-10
7. Maccabi Ashdod 7-11
8. Elizur Holon 3-15
Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.