The league started on Thursday, but Ramat Hasharon had a Europe Cup
game
that day and therefore played a make up game on Saturday. We’ll begin
with
the Europe Cup game.
Ramat Hasharon 72 – Ano Liosia 59
Ramat Hasharon didn’t play well most of the game, but an excellent 4th
quarter was enough for them to get the important win. Michelle Snow,
who was
a bit under the weather, was off offensively and missed a few shots
early on
as both teams got off to a slow start. Octavia Blue, who finished with
22
pts, picked up two quick fouls and spent the rest of the quarter on the
bench. The Greeks, who took 33 threes in the game, hit their shots
early on
and led 17-14 after 1.
In the second quarter the pace picked up, which helped the locals. Vasileia Gkouzini, who ended the 1st quarter with 2 quick fouls, let out some frustration with 7 straight points to put her team up 24-21. With Snow on the bench, Ramat Hasharon struggled on the defensive glass but Blue kept them in the game. At the half Ramat Hasharon trailed 37-35.
Latinovic started to show some signs of life with a driving lay-up and an assist to Snow to start the 3rd quarter. Another Latinovic assist to Blue gave Ramat Hasharon a 42-41 lead, which later grew to 47-42 with 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Ano Liosia closed the quarter with a 10-3 run and regain a 52-50 lead.
Ramat Hasharon started the 4th with Snow and without Blue, and it wasn’t looking good. A basket by Gkouzini after rare points by Snow made it 57-54, and coach Ostfeld called a timeout with 6 minutes to go. Blue and Sharon Zeevi entered, Snow and Latinovic took a seat, and Aluma Goren took over as Ramat Hasharon went on an 18-2 run to finish the game. Branchikova with a 3 and Tamar Maoz with a steal and a lay up gave the lead and the momentum to the locals. Blue made four free throws and the gap kept growing until the buzzer.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Octavia Blue – 22 pts (7/10 FGs, 8/9 FTs), 7 rebs
Natasha Branchikova – 15 pts (4/9 3pt FGs)
Michelle Snow – 9 pts (4/14 FGs), 14 rebs
Gunta Basko – 9 pts
Aluma Goren – 4 pts, 6 rebs, 5 assts
For Ano Liosia:
Vasileia Gkouzini – 23 pts 7 rebs, 4 asst
Eleni Vasileiou - 18 pts, 6 rebs
On to Round 1…
Maccabi Raanana 80 – Bnei Yehuda 82 (F/ 3 OT)
Shlomi was at the game, here’s his report:
About 30 people showed up to watch these two low tier teams, but this
wild
game that started on a boring note ended in front of a packed house in
a
playoff atmosphere. The teams were neck and neck early, and it was tied
at
18 with 5 mins to go in the 1st half. Bnei Yehuda then started to pull
away
and led by 3 to 11 points until the 35th minute. Raanana then got 8
straight
steals, led by the fighting Hana Haleli who dove to the floor and got 6
steals in 3 minutes.
Raanana used fast breaks to quickly close the deficit, and a 3pt play
by
Haleli tied the score at 57 with 90 seconds left. It was a clank-fest
until
the end of regulation.
Bnei Yehuda jumped to a 66-59 lead in overtime and seemed to again have the game in the bag but then Allison Trapp hit a 3. Kelley Gibson answered with two free throws but on the other end Ednisha Curry made it a 68-64 game. Haleli, with a steal and a big 3pt play cut it to 68-67. After a Bnei Yehuda turnover, Curry made 1 of 2 from the line and Leigh Aziz missed at the buzzer to send the game to OT #2.
Susan Murray joined Elena Morchova with 5 fouls on the bench early in the 2nd OT. Inbar Vaksman, with her only basket of the game, put Raanana up 72-71 but Bnei Yehuda tied it from the line. Curry took over the game for Raanana and made it 74-72 with a minute left. 50 seconds later, Bnei Yehuda had the ball but it went out of bounds off of a Raanana player. Coach Shiki Falah called a time out and planned a play for Detrina White, who scored with 3 seconds left and forced a 3rd overtime.
Allison Trapp and Inbar Vaksman fouled out and two kids entered the game for the first time for Raanana. Raanana crumbled and Bnei Yehuda, who has been practicing for only a week, finally won 82-80.
For Beni Yehuda:
Detrina White 37 pts
Leigh Aziz 17 pts
Kelley Gibson
14
pts
Hila Izhar 8 pts
For Raanana:
Ednisha Curry 30 pts
Allison Trapp 15 pts
Susan Murray
13
pts
Hana Haleli 9 pts
Elena Morchova 8 pts
Elizur Ramla 85 – Maccabi Ashdod 68
Ashdod, playing without Sarit Arbel who had surgery on her ankle and
will
miss two more weeks, held on for 3 quarters before running out of gas.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall 20 pts
Ayana Walker 18 pts
Monika Veslovski 17
pts
Ina Gourevitch 12 pts
Dragoslava Zakula 11 pts
Liron Cohen 3 pts
For Ashdod:
Vika Rudovski 24 pts
Kenya Larkin & Ebony Tanner 13 pts
each
Denise Woods 12 pts
Ramat Hasharon 74 – ASA Jerusalem 69
Jerusalem cut a 20 point deficit with 7 minutes to play to a 4 point
deficit
with 1 minute to play but Ramat Hasharon held on and got the win.
Jerusalem actually started the game very well, and built a 17-8 lead.
Speedy
point guard Telisha Quarles had 10 points already. With 3:29 left in
the
quarter Ramat Hasharon took a timeout, and came back with Octavia Blue
and
Tamar Maoz in place of Latinovic and Snow. The defense immediately
picked
up, Ramat Hasharon used stops to get their running game on and sealed
the
quarter with a 10-0 run.
The 2nd quarter was no different. Jerusalem was stuck, couldn’t complete a pass inside and ended up hoisting a 3pt shot or turning it over almost on every possession. Ramat Hasharon led 38-27 at the half.
Five minutes into the 3rd quarter Ramat Hasharon’s lead reached 53-33. They ended the quarter up 60-38. With 7 minutes to go Ramat Hasharon was still up 20, 64-44, but Valerie Muoneke woke up and along with Quarles and Tijana Rus started getting Jerusalem back in the game. A steal and a lay up by Quarles following two free throws by Rus cut the lead to 66-57, with 3 minutes left. Two minutes later a 3 by Rus made it a 4 pt game, 68-64. A nice ‘and 1’ by Goren pushed the lead to 7 but on the other end Goren sent Quarles to the line for 3 shots. After two more free throws by Snow and Muoneke, Ramat Hasharon had the ball up 73-69 with 19 seconds to play. Jerusalem let 12 seconds tick away before fouling Goren, who made 1 of 2 to make it a 5 pt game and Jerusalem couldn’t do anything in the remaining 7 seconds.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Michelle Snow – 15 pts & 12 rebs
Octavia Blue – 14 pts
Gunta Basko –
12
pts
Goren & Latinovic 10 pts each
For Jerusalem:
Telisha Quarles – 23 pts (4/5 3pt FGs), 10 TOs
Valerie Muoneke – 20
pts &
13 rebs
Ivana Rus – 12 pts
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 101 – Hapoel Petah Tikva 72
Haifa/Motzkin took control early on with a 17-5 lead five minutes into
the
game and never looked back.
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Laine Selwyn – 24 pts (9/11 FGs), 5 assists, 5 rebs, 4 steals, 0 TOs
Nakia Sanford – 21 pts, 14 rebs
Lynn Pride – 21 pts
Yelena Mustafina – 13 pts
Crystal Givens – 12 pts
For Petah Tikva:
Rivi Grinboym 18 pts
Chanel Wright-Green 15 pts
Tiffany Listenbee 14
pts
Taly Noy 10 pts
Molly Creamer 7 pts
Maccabi Ramat Hen 96 – Elizur Holon 63
For Ramat Hen:
Tawona Alhaleem 21 pts
Plenette Pierson 18 pts
Edwina
Brown
16 pts
Mirav Dorry 15 pts
Shira Haelyon & Lena Fedulova 9 pts each
For Holon:
Kristina Covington 20 pts
Einav Asolin 11 pts
Shala Reese
&
Sivan Ballalis 10 pts each
Round 1 MVP: Laine Selwyn
The energetic playmaker will for sure be one of the league’s stars with
a
great shooting touch, superb defense and a lot of enthusiasm. On
Thursday
she got off to a great start with 24 pts on 9 of 11 shooting.
Round 1’s First Team:
Laine Selwyn – Haifa/Motzkin’s PG did it all in a great game, finishing
with
24 pts, 5 rebs, 5 assts, 4 steals and no turnovers.
Nakia Sanford – Dominated under the basket against Petah Tikva with 21
pts,
14 boards and 2 blocks.
Detrina White – Her 37 points, some of which critical, helped Bnei
Yehuda
get the win in Raanana despite having only one week of practice.
Ednisha Curry – 30 points, countless steals, leadership and mainly
clutch
baskets was what she did against Bnei Yehuda, but it wasn’t enough.
Amber Hall – A new season does not change old habits. Hall led Ramla to
its
first win with 20 points.