Playoffs Round 1
By Lior Klinger
Ramat Hen and Ramla won at home to take a 1-0 lead in their best of
five
semi-final series.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 85 – YES Ramat Hasharon 82
The playoffs got under way with a wild one in Ramat Hen. Ramat Hen had
a
great 1st half and led by 17 points at the break, and knew they cannot
afford to lose this game. Ina Gourevitch and Limor Mizrachi rallied
Ramat
Hasharon all the way back to a tie in the forth, but the locals held on
for
the win in a tight finish.
The game was slow paced early on, and Ramat Hen led 15-10 after one.
Ramat
Hasharon, who was playing without Tracy Reid who returned home in the
weekend, looked nothing like the team that won the Cup 4 days before.
They
started the 2nd with a 6-2 run to make it a 17-16 deficit, but Simone
Edwards with a 3pt play, Vicky Hall with a J and Marianna Raguz with a
three
made it 25-16. With less than 4 minutes to play in the half Tamar Maoz
cut
the lead to 29-23 with a three, but Edwards scored 7 straight as Ramat
Hen
raced to a 44-27 halftime lead. Edwards was dominating the game with 17
pts
& 11 rebounds already. Gourevitch had only 5 and Mizrachi just 2, but
that
all was about to change.
Gourevitch had 5 points for the visitors to start the 3rd, but Rivi
Grinboym
swished a three in as well and Ramat Hen maintained the lead, 47-32,
two
minutes into the quarter. Ramat Hasharon began building momentum at
this
stage, as Rhonda Mapp woke up, Gulsah Akkaya scored and Gourevitch cut
it to
50-41 with a three. Mapp and Mizrachi completed the 17-5 run and it was
a
52-46 game, with under 4 to play in the quarter. Ramat Hen managed to
get
the lead back to double digits, but Mizrachi sealed the quarter with
her
team’s 27th point, as much as they scored in the entire 1st half. They
were
down 62-54 after 3.
Rhonda Mapp cashed in on a 3pt play two minutes into the 4th, and cut
the
lead to 62-59. Mizrachi capped off a 10-2 run to tie the game at 64
with 6
minutes to play. On the other end Tal Salz came up big, knocking down
the J
and drawing the foul to put Ramat Hen back up 67-64. Edwards, who was
getting special treatment from the opposing defense after her big first
half, got her first points in the 2nd half to make it 69-64 and Ramat
Hasharon called a timeout. Two minutes later Mizrachi nailed a big
three to
cut it to 74-71 after the gap grew to six again. There were plenty of
big
plays in this game though. One of them was Grinboym’s three to make it
an
81-78 game after Mizrachi cut it to 2. Gourevitch and Varbanova got
quick
baskets for Ramat Hasharon and sent Ramat Hen to the line, and they
weren’t
all that accurate. Grinboym made one of two with 21 seconds to go and
the
score was 83-80, but Mizrachi scored to cut it back to one with 11
ticks on
the clock. Hall was sent to the line with just 6 seconds left, and she
made
both. Ramat Hasharon didn’t get a normal shot off and Ramat Hen held on
to
protect home court.
For Ramat Hen:
Vicky Hall – 25 pts (10/15 FGs, 4/5 FTs), 6 rebs, 3 assts
Simone Edwards – 20 pts (8/17 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 12 rebs
Rivi Grinboym – 14 pts (3/4 3pt FGs, 2/5 2pt FGs, 1/2 FTs), 6 assts
Monika Kovac – 10 pts (3/4 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 9 assts
Marianna Raguz – 7 pts (2/6 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 6 rebs, 3 assts
Tal Salz – 5 pts (2/4 FGs, 1/1 FT)
For Ramat Hasharon:
Ina Gourevitch – 26 pts (9/14 FGs, 6/7 FTs), 5 rebs
Limor Mizrachi – 20 pts (9/15 FGs), 5 assts
Rhonda Mapp – 15 pts (6/16 FGs, 3/5 FTs), 8 rebs
Lidiya Varbanova – 14 pts (6/9 FGs, 2/2 FTs)
Tamar Maoz – 5 pts (2/4)
Elizur Ramla 63 – Maccabi Ashdod 47
It wasn’t pretty, but Ramla did what it set out to do despite another
uninspiring offensive performance and thanks to tough defense, which
made
Ashdod’s offense look even worse. Straight from the start it didn’t
seem
like it was going to be Ashdod’s day as Crystal Givens picked up 3
quick
fouls. Amber Hall scored Ramla’s first 8 points as Ashdod managed just
6.
Ramla blew a lot of easy baskets but ended the quarter up 14-7.
Ashdod continued to struggle with the Ramla zone, and two threes by
Liron
Cohen and another one by Ornit Shwartz helped Ramla build a 16 pt lead.
Ashdod did some damage control with seven straight in the final 3
minutes of
the half, and trailed 29-20 at the break.
Ashdod’s momentum carried on to start the 3rd quarter as Vika Rudovski
finally hit one from downtown to cut it to 33-30, five minutes into the
3rd,
but Ashdod did not get another basket in the 3rd. Ramla wasn’t exactly
on
fire either, but got to the line often and led 42-34 after three.
The locals hit 3 threes to start the 4th, and the gap grew to 54-36.
Ashdod
came within 9 using some full court press, but that was as close as
they
got. We could pretty much start thinking about game 2, but then in the
final
minute Kenya Larkin took a hard hit to the head in a collision with
Amber
Hall, and stayed down on the floor for several minutes. Finally she
managed
to get back on her feet and walk on her own. Ashdod will need her in
top
condition, and a lot more, to bounce back from their worst game of the
season.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 20 pts (7/17 FGs, 6/13 FTs), 19 rebs, 5 stls, 5 TOs & 4
assts
Jaclyn Johnson – 14 pts (5/11 FGs, 3/6 FTs), 14 rebs, 7 TOs
Ornit Shwartz – 11 pts (3/7 3pt FGs, 1/5 2pt FGs)
Liron Cohen – 10 pts (3/5 3pt FGs, 0/5 2pt FGs)
For Ashdod:
Kenya Larkin – 11 pts (2/11 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 5 stls, 3 assts
Crystal Givens – 10 pts (4/7 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 10 rebs in 23 minutes
Valerie Muoneke – 10 pts (4/12 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 6 rebs, 6 TOs
Sarit Arbel – 8 pts (4/12), 11 rebs
Vika Rudovski – 6 pts (2/10), 5 TOs
Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.