Playoffs Round 1
By Lior Klinger
Ramat Hasharon continued the trend and defeated Ramat Hen at home to
force
game 5. In nine meetings between the teams this season, there were no
road
wins. With all the talk about Rhonda Mapp’s possible departure and
Lidiya
Varbanova & Gulsah Akkaya considering leaving, Ramat Hen had to be a
bit
complacent, and you could tell which team wanted it more. In the other
semi
finals series Ramla closed out a 3-1 series win over Ashdod, which
played
without Crystal Givens and Valerie Muoneke. Too bad it had to come to
an end
this way, but the loss pales in comparison to all the wonderful things
Ashdod accomplished this season.
YES Ramat Hasharon 88- Maccabi Ramat Hen 82
War or no war, foreigners booking flights or not, Ramat Hen does not
win in
Ramat Hasharon period. In the first quarter it was going great for the
visitors, but in the final 30 minutes Ramat Hasharon looked like a team
in a
do-or-die game while Ramat Hen was starting to make peace with the idea
of a
game 5.
Defense was neither team’s strong point in the early minutes, as Vicky
Hall
and Ina Gourevitch scored 13 & 11 pts respectively. Ramat Hen built a
26-17
lead with a 9-0 run but Gourevitch hit a 3 to set the score at 26-20
after
1.
The pace slowed down a bit in the 2nd quarter, and points by Rhonda
Mapp cut
the lead to 32-29, with 7 minutes left in the half. Simone Edwards
banked in
a 3 and got the Ramat Hen fans on their feet, but good minutes by
Lidiya
Varbanova helped the locals tie the game at 37, with under 4 to go. At
the
half we were still tied, at 41.
Gourevitch and Varbanova led Ramat Hasharon to a 52-46 early lead in
the
3rd, but Edwards and Grinboym kept Ramat Hen close behind. Marianna
Raguz
did not maintain her good form from game 3, and misfired on a three
that
sent Limor Mizrachi on a fast-break. Ramat Hasharon opened a 58-51 lead
with
another easy shot by Varbanova. Ramat Hen’s offense was stuck with more
complaints to the refs than points. Ramat Hasharon got its biggest lead
of
the game at 67-55, but some damage control by Ramat Hen made it 67-60
after
3.
Ramat Hasharon restored its double figures lead in the 4th. Vicky Hall,
who
couldn’t miss in the 1st quarter, was shooting blanks from good looks,
Raguz
wasn’t getting any looks and only Edwards & Monika Kovac remained
focused.
With 3:30 left to play Varbanova made it 82-70, and Ramat Hen looked
pretty
low on intensity. They did manage to cut the gap to 6 by the end of the
game
but Raguz’s 3pt play was long over due and Ramat Hasharon made some
free
throws to force a 5th and deciding game. It’s still uncertain whether
Mapp
will stick around for game 5, Varbanova and Akkaya will.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Ina Gourevitch: 21 pts (8/14 FGs, 4/5 FTs), 5 rebs, 4 assts
Lidiya Varbanova: 19 pts (7/11 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 6 rebs
Rhonda Mapp: 14 pts (6/10 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 8 rebs
Limor Mizrachi: 13 pts (4/13 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 6 rebs, 5 stls
Tamar Maoz: 11 pts (4/6 FGs, 2/3 FTs), 6 assts – best game of the
series,
first as a starter
Gulsah Akkaya: 7 pts in 12 mins
For Ramat Hen:
Simone Edwards: 27 pts (1/2 3pt FGs, 9/17 2pt FGs, 6/8 FTs), 11 rebs, 2
assts
Vicky Hall: 25 pts (1/3 3pt FGs, 9/17 2pt FGs, 4/7 FTs), 13 rebs, 4
assts
Rivi Grinboym: 13 pts (2/4 3pt FGs, 2/6 2pt FGs, 3/3 FTs), 3 rebs
Marianna Raguz: 7 pts (3/11 FGs, 1/1 FT), 3 rebs
Maccabi Ashdod 68 – Elizur Ramla 102
Without Crystal Givens and Valerie Muoneke Ashdod couldn’t pose real
competition to Ramla, which advanced to the finals. Still, absolutely
nothing can take away from the incredible season Ashdod had.
For Ramla: Jaclyn Johnson & Ornit Shwartz 19 pts each
Amber Hall &
Natasha
Branchikova 18 pts each.
For Ashdod:
Vika Rudovski 16 pts
Kenya Larkin 15 pts
Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.