Playoffs Round 1
By Orli Klinger
Both semis are now tied at 1-1.
Maccabi Ashdod 71 – Elizur Ramla 68
Ashdod in a great game outplayed Ramla for nearly the entire game and
tied
the semi final series. All of Ramla’s comeback attempts eventually fell
short, and even Amber Hall’s inspiring 33 points and 18 rebounds
performance
wasn’t enough to beat the enthusiastic Ashdod players.
Sarit Arbel started out well and scored Ashdod’s first 8 points. On the
other end Jackie Johnson hit Ramla’s first shot after about 3 minutes.
Kenya
Larkin found Vika Rudovski for a 3 that put the locals up 11-4. Ramla
looked
a bit better in the final minutes of the 1st, but Crystal Givens’ 8
points
on perfect shooting helped Ashdod take a 21-17 lead after 1.
Ashdod continued to run in the 2nd and increased the gap to 36-23 with
points from Valerie Muoneke, Givens and Oksana Dovgalyuk. Ramla’s
players
were busy launching 3’s, except for Amber Hall who was putting back
some of
their misses. A 3 point play by Hall cut the gap to 9, but Givens
replied
with a 3 point play of her own and Ashdod led 43-31 at the break. Hall
had
16 points already, and Givens wasn’t far behind with 15.
Ramla opened the 2nd half with a run of their own to get back within
45-40
with 6:30 to go in the 3rd. Ornit Shwartz hit a 3 for a change, Amber
Hall
added 2 more points to her total and Branchikova finished on the fast
break.
But, their momentum faded 2 minutes later and Ramla was again down 10
after
a three by Rudovski. Larkin split Ramla’s tough zone with a great pass
to
Givens, and later dished one to Rudovski for 3 to make it 57-44. Taly
Noy
resumed the bombing from outside and Larkin sealed the quarter with a
J,
59-44.
Ramla didn’t waste time early in the 4th and quickly cut the gap to 10.
Hall
made two FTs, Johnson corrected a Shwartz miss and the lead was only
64-58,
with 4:30 to play. Liron Cohen finally hit a 3 after missing her first
7
attempts to get Ramla within four. Amber Hall, who spent some time
defending
the speedy Larkin, caught a wild pass and scored over 4 players while
being
fouled with 90 seconds to go. She hit the free throw to make it 66-69,
and
the refs gave Givens her fifth foul despite the fact she wasn’t the one
who
committed the foul. Shwartz made it a 1-point game from the line, and
all
sorts of horror scenarios began racing through the Ashdod’s supporters’
minds. But those didn’t come true, as Ramla turned the ball over and
Larkin
sank two of four free throws to clinch the win.
For Ashdod:
Crystal Givens – 19 pts, 10 rebs
Sarit Arbel – 13 pts
Valerie Muoneke – 12 pts
Vika Rudovski – 11 pts
Kenya Larkin – 8 pts and 8 ast on her 23rd birthday
Oksana Dovgalyuk – 8 pts
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 33 pts, 18 rebs
Jaclyn Johnson – 12 pts
Natasha Branchikova – 9 pts
Liron Cohen – 7 pts
Ornit Shwartz – 5 pts
YES Ramat Hasharon 76 – Maccabi Ramat Hen 72
Ramat Hasharon had to win, and acted like it. Not much separated these
two
teams in a great game, but the little things went Ramat Hasharon’s way.
Ina
Gourevitch in a wonderful first half, Limor Mizrachi with important
baskets
and Gulsah Akkaya’s rebounding and scoring managed to tie the series
with a
hard fought win over Ramat Hen.
The opening minutes belonged to Gourevitch who scored her team’s first
8
points and also drew two fouls from Marianna Raguz. Raguz’s hesitation
on
offense resulted in turnovers and mistakes, but Ramat Hen kept it
close. A
three point play by Akkaya and points from Varbanova opened a 16-10
gap, and
Ramat Hasharon led 20-14 after 1. Ramat Hen wasn’t aggressive on
defense or
on the boards, and Vicky Hall who also picked up 2 fouls wasn’t in the
game
on either end.
Ramat Hen looked better in the 2nd, as two assists from Simone Edwards
led
to easy buckets by Monika Kovac and Marianna Raguz. They still couldn’t
stop
Gourevitch, but smart play on offense and some Ramat Hasharon turnovers
sparked a 13-3 run to give Ramat Hen a 27-23 lead with under 5 minutes
to go
in the half. Gourevitch and Mapp tied the game up, Raguz and Hall
opened a 5
point lead, but Ramat Hasharon ended the quarter better. A put back by
Akkaya who looked like she picked up a thing or two from Tracy Reid
helped
them tie it at 36 at the half. Ina Gourevitch had half of her team's
points
at this stage.
The game remained close in the 3rd, with Hall doing it all for Ramat
Hen and
Varbanova & Akkaya answering on the other end. Ramat Hasharon found
more
ways to score other than Gourevitch, and went up 50-43 with 4 mins to
go in
the 3rd. Ramat Hen wouldn’t let them get away as a three by Raguz who,
for a
change, managed to recover from her bad start and get into the game,
made it
a 2 point game. Ramat Hasharon led 54-50 after 3.
Gourevitch opened the 4th with a 3, and those were her final points of
the
game. Luckily for Ramat Hasharon, her teammates stepped up, effectively
putting the ball in the hole to build a 64-57 lead with a little over 7
minutes to play. Simone Edwards kept Ramat Hen in the game and scored 9
of
their next 10 points on the way to a 67-67 tie with about 3 minutes to
go. A
great move by Mizrachi gave the lead back to the locals following a
Ramat
Hen turnover. Ramat Hen lost the ball again after Maoz missed an open
layup,
and Mizrachi increased it to 3 from the line. Edwards missed at the
other
end, Varbanova chased down a critical offensive rebound after letting
20
plus seconds tick away and Mizrachi hit 1 of 2 FTs to make it 71-67
with 58
seconds to go. Rivi Grinboym, who spent quite a few minutes in the 4th
sitting on the bench along side Raguz, took a bad shot. Mapp hit twice
from
the line, and even the 5 points Vicky Hall created all alone couldn’t
save
Ramat Hen, who needed a 3rd scorer in the closing minutes. The
defending
champs proved they wouldn’t give up the crown easily, and put the
pressure
back on Ramat Hen. Tied at 1-1.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Ina Gourevitch – 26 pts (6/7 2pt FGs, 2/3 3pt FGs, 5/5 FTs), 4 rebs.
Gulsah Akkaya – 16 pts (5/11 FGs, 6/8 FTs), 9 rebs (6 ORs).
Rhonda Mapp – 12 pts (5/12 FGs, 2/4 FTs), 9 rebs, 4 TOs.
Lidiya Varbanova – 11 pts (5/8 FGs, 1/2 FTs), 5 rebs.
Limor Mizrachi – 10 pts (4/8 FGs, 2/4 FTs), 4 rebs, 3 ast, 2 stl.
For Ramat Hen:
Simone Edwards – 19 pts (7/15 FGs, 5/5 FTs), 8 rebs, 3 ast
Vicky Hall – 18 pts (7/14 FGs, 3/5 FTs), 8 rebs.
Marianna Raguz – 12 pts (4/7 2pt FGs, 1/3 3pt FGs, 1/1 FTs), 3 rebs.
Rivi Grinboym – 10 pts (1/3 2pt FGs, 2/2 3pt FGs, 2/2 FTs).
Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.