Israel Report 1/3/03

Quarter Finals - Second Leg
By Orli Klinger

Ramat Hasharon, Ramla, Bnei Yehuda and Ashdod advanced to the Israeli Cup semi finals to be held on March 3rd in a knock out format. The draw to decide who plays who will be held on monday.

Ramat Hasharon 78 - Maccabi Ramat Hen 58
No game 1 win would have been big enough for Ramat Hen to advance. The 3 point gap wasn't meaningful at all, as game 2 was a completely different story. Limor Mizrachi ran the show for Ramat Hasharon and paved the way to the semi finals without many difficulties. Ramat Hen played its worst game of the season.

Simone Edwards scored 8 of Ramat Hen's first 10 points and kept them in the game early. Ramat Hasharon was sharper and got all the loose balls on their way to a comfortable 20-12 lead after 1. The visitors showed some life in the 2nd quarter with a 12-3 run. A 3pointer by Sivan Balalis gave them their only lead, 23-24, but Limor Mizrachi replied back with a 3 of her own. Ramat Hasharon led 34-31 at the break.

Ramat Hen played even worse in the 3rd quarter. Ramat Hasharon kept focusing on Vicky Hall, who had a horrible game, and it worked. Ramat Hasharon kept Ramat Hen without a field goal for 5 whole minutes until Edwards finally ended the drought. Tracy Reid made it 59-39 after 3. The 4th quarter was for the record only.

For Ramat Hasharon:
Limor Mizrachi - 22 pts (5/8 3's), 4 rebs, 3 ast & 5 steals in a great game.
Rhonda Mapp - 16 pts (8/9 FGs), 12 rebs, 7 ast.
Lidiya Varbanova - 15 pts, 5 ast.
Tracy Reid - 8 pts, 11 rebs.

For Ramat Hen:
Simone Edwards - 14 pts, 6 rebs.
Vicky Hall - 14 pts (3/11 FGs) in her worst game of the season.
Marianna Raguz - 10 pts (5/11 FGs, needs to shoot more), 5 rebs.
Rivi Grinboim - 10 pts.

Maccabi Ashdod 70 - Maccabi Raanana 56
In the biggest surprise of the cup 1/4 finals, Ashdod erased the 11 point gap and advanced to the semi finals. Ashdod, the 8th team in the standings, trailed 31-29 at the half but pulled of the upset at the end. Raanana's coach, Dani Nachminovic, fainted after the game and took 10 minutes to recover.

For Ashdod: Kenya Larkin 25 pts, Crystal Givens 16 pts, Vika Roduvski 10 pts.
For Raanana: Edwina Brown 17 pts, Tatum Brown 15 pts.

Elizur Holon 77 - Bnei Yehuda 78
Holon lost the first game by 17 points, and actually built a 16 point lead in game 2. Bnei Yehuda, behind Tawona Alhaleem, managed to come back and even steal the win.

For Bnei Yehuda: Tawona Alhaleem 40 pts, Leslie Johnson 15 pts.
For Holon: Octavia Blue 18 pts, Yulia Rozova 18 pts.

Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 61 - Elizur Ramla 80
After winning game 1 by 26, Ramla had no trouble advancing.


Information reprinted with permission of Lior Klinger and Orli Klinger. Send an e-mail to be put on the mailing list.

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