Israeli National Team Update
By Orli Klinger
Israel qualifies for European Championships!!!
The Israeli women's national team has made their 2nd European Championships
ever (not counting 1950 when whoever wanted to play was allowed to) after
getting a big win over Romania and a little help from Germany. Nobody
thought they could do it, but two big home wins proved other wise. The
semi-final tournament featured six games over the time span of a year, and
the Israelis finished with a 2-4 record, which was good enough for 2nd place
in the bracket. Pretty good for a team who's starting center is a 6'2 small
forward. The last time Israel took part in the European championships was in
1991, as the host team.
Israel 73 - Romania 56
The Israeli women's national team got a huge win in a game they couldn't
afford to lose. The optimists fantasized about a 16+ point win which would
make up for last year's 80-65 loss in Romania, and Limor Mizrachi's
unbelievable day along with great Israeli 2nd half defense made the wish
come true.
Early on things looked good as two 3's by Ornit Shwartz and one by Tamar
Maoz made it 13-3. The Romanians recovered in the closing minutes and cut
the gap in half after 6 points by Maria Nitulescu, 19-24 after 1.
A three by Monika Brosovszky tied the game at 26, and Gabriela Toma gave the
visitors a 32-29 lead. A 3 by Sharon Zeevi and Rivi Grinboym's contributions
off the bench gave the lead back to Israel, and a buzzer beating shot by
Limor Mizrachi made it 38-34 at the half.
The Israelis got off to a very bad start in the 2nd half as the Romanians
went on an 8-1 run to take a 42-39 lead with about 4 minutes to play. The
Israelis took a timeout and came back with Zeevi instead of Liad Suez who
couldn't get anything going, and Zeevi scored Israel's first FG of the half.
Israel scored 9 more points in the final minutes of the quarter and led
48-46 going into the 4th.
The Israeli momentum carried into the last quarter, as they looked great on
both ends of the court outscoring Romania 25-10. A 3 by Mizrachi and a great
assist from Zeevi to Shwartz opened a 7 point gap, which kept growing. Limor
Mizrachi began to feel that a 16-point gap is doable, and went on to score
the team's next 12 points, hitting 3's and shot clock buzzer beaters. When
she was done, the lead stood at 71-56 with 1:20 to go. Sharon Zeevi
converted on a nice assist from Shwartz for the final margin, as the
Romanians didn't capitalize on their final chance to score with 21 seconds
to go.
For Israel:
Limor Mizrachi - 31 pts (6/10 2pt FGs, 5/10 3pt FGs, 4/4 FTs), 6 rebs, 2
asts, 2 steals, 3 TOs.
Ornit Shwartz - 19 pts (2/4 2pt FGs, 2/5 3pt FGs, 8/10 FTs), 2 rebs, 2 asts,
2 TOs.
Rivi Grinboym - 9 pts (2/2 2pt FGs, 1/4 3pt FGs, 2/3 FTs), 5 rebs, 2 steals.
Sharon Zeevi - 7 pts (2/4 2pt FGs, 1/1 3pt FGs), 3 rebs, 2 asts.
For Romania:
Maria Nitulescu - 17 pts, 10 rebs.
Monika Brosovszky - 12 pts.
Israel went on to Germany, knowing a win would clinch an historic place in
the European Championships. But they came up short after a tough battle,
76-64, and postponed the clinching till the final day of games.
For Israel: Mizrachi 16 pts & 5 rebs, Shwartz 13 pts & 5 rebs, Maoz 10 pts.
For Germany: Linda Frolich 20 pts, Marliss Askamp 13 pts & 17 rebs, Sandra
Van Saldern 19 pts.
Israel needed a Romanian loss in Germany by no more than 36 points, or a
home win over Spain to advance. Of course, the first option looked far more
realistic.
Israel 54 - Spain 79
Spain finished 3rd in the last European Championships, and 5th in the World
Championships this past September. They came into the game undefeated, and
haven't been using their best lineup in the final leg of the tournament, but
they were still heads and shoulders above the local team in terms of talent,
height, athleticism and tradition.
The Israelis led 18-16 after 1 and stayed in the game for about 15 minutes
thanks to Liad Suez and Rivi Grinboym, but the Spanish superiority
eventually took over. Led by the excellent Laia Palau who was swishing shot
after shot, the Spanish took a 41-33 lead into the locker rooms and kept
increasing it in the 2nd half on their way to an expected win.
For Israel: Grinboym 15 pts, Suez 14 pts & 7 rebs.
For Spain: Laia Palau 28 pts, Noemi Jordana 13 pts & 7 rebs.
Despite the loss, the Israelis still had a chance to stay in 2nd place since
they have beaten both Romania and Germany by more points than the gaps in
which they lost to those teams on the road. A few hours later in the night
the word from Germany arrived - the Romanians had lost 72-57 in Germany -
and the Israeli celebrations were underway.
Israel will join France, Russia, Spain, Hungary, Slovak Republic,
Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and the hosts in Greece for the
European Championships in September 2003.
Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.