Lidiya Varbanova had a successful debut game as Ramat Hasharon escaped
with
a win from the thriller in Motzkin. An interesting match up between
Ramat
Hen and Bnei Yehuda turned out to be one-sided, as Bnei Yehuda’s center
Leigh Aziz was sick and DeTrina White didn’t look much like herself
either.
In other games, Ashdod won in Holon, Raanana beat Jerusalem and Ramla
defeated Petah Tikva.
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 75 – Ramat Hasharon 77
One of the most exciting games of the season came to a dramatic ending.
Motzkin’s young & talented squad stormed out of the blocks in an
offensive
minded first half, but the more experienced Ramat Hasharon team
finished
each quarter strong. Gunta Basko’s great play and hustle along with a
potential local game winning 3-ball that rolled out lifted Ramat
Hasharon to
a big win and handed Motzkin another heartbreaking loss.
Motzkin got off to a fast start, running on every chance they got and
sharing the ball. All five starters scored in the first few minutes of
the
game. Ramat Hasharon didn’t panic but 8 straight local points, five of
which
belonged to Crystal Givens, made it 20-13 with 3:30 left in the
quarter. At
this point both teams started using the bench, which work to Ramat
Hasharon’s advantage. Motzkin was in the penalty and the visitors used
six
straight free throws to end the quarter up 27-23.
Motzkin quickly tied the score in the 2nd but two 3pt plays by Aluma
Goren &
Lenae Williams gave Ramat Hasharon it’s biggest lead at 35-27, with
under 7
to go in the half. Motzkin’s disorganized running game caused them a
lot of
unforced errors, and Nakia Sanford wasn’t getting enough touches.
Offensive
rebounds kept Motzkin in close range, and they trailed just 43-42
following
4 points by Lynn Pride. Trailing 49-47 with 3 seconds to play in the
half,
Pride raced the full length of the court and tied the game with a
buzzer
beating J. She led all scorers with 14 at the break, in a variety of
slick
moves.
The up-tempo style carried on to the first couple of minutes of the
3rd, but
then things cooled off. Ramat Hasharon decided it’s their turn to
commit
fouls and turnovers, while Motzkin insisted on missing free throws.
Still a
made one here and there along with a rare 3pointer got Motzkin it’s
biggest
lead, 63-55 with 3:20 left in the 3rd. However, just like in the 1st
quarter, Ramat Hasharon had the final say. They finished the quarter up
66-65, after an 11-2 run in which Tamar Maoz scored 7 points.
Ramat Hasharon led 69-65 in the 4th, as Motzkin struggled to score.
Pride,
who had 19 points prior to the 4th, didn’t start. Givens and Sanford
combined for eight points and got a 73-69 lead. Ramat Hasharon came
back
from the timeout with Varbanova, and Goren scored off the inbound play.
Motzkin was stuck with those 73 points for about 4 minutes, Pride
re-entered
the game with just 3:20 left for some reason but it didn’t really help.
Ramat Hasharon’s frontcourt got them a 77-73 lead with 1:12 left.
Motzkin called a timeout and Givens drew a foul and amazingly enough,
made
both free throws. Down 77-75 Motzkin got the ball back with 36 seconds
left,
following Varbanova’s offensive foul, her 5th. Mustafina drove to the
hoop
and traveled. On the other end Williams turned it over with 12 seconds
to
play. Then came a huge steal by Basko, who dove after the ball and
saved it
for Ramat Hasharon with just 2.3 tics left. The inbound pass got to the
hands of Laine Selwyn. She had an off shooting night but got a great
look at
a 3 and let it go. The ball bounced in and out, Givens followed up with
a
put back but it was a few hundreds of a second too late.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Lidiya Varbanova – 15 pts & 6 rebs
Octavia Blue – 15 & 5 rebs
Gunta Basko - 14 pts (6/11 FGs, 2/4 FTs), 6 rebs, 7 steals
Tamar Maoz – 11 pts
Aluma Goren - 9 pts, 9 assists
Lenae Williams – 9 pts (2/3 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 7 TOs
For Motzkin:
Lynn Pride – 19 pts (7/10 FGs, 5/10 FTs), 4 rebs, 5 TOs
Crystal Givens – 17 pts (8/14 FGs, 2/3 FTs), 8 rebs
Lena Mustafina – 15 pts (2/8 3pt FGs)
Nakia Sanford – 14 pts (5/10 FGs, 3/7 FTs), 14 rebs
Laine Selwyn – 6 pts (1/7 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 9 assists, 5 TOs
Maccabi Ramat Hen 83 – Bnei Yehuda 60
Bnei Yehuda played its worst game of the season and was no match for
Ramat
Hen who led wire to wire and won easily. Leigh Aziz played with the flu
and
was ineffective, DeTrina White was off as well. Ramat Hen was the
aggressor
and Bnei Yehuda struggled to get good shots, finishing the 1st with a
number
of field goals you could count on one hand. Ramat Hen led 21-12 after
1.
In the 2nd the gap grew to 29-14, but Kelley Gibson brought some life
to
Bnei Yehuda’s offense with 2 threes. Tawona Alhaleem answered with
penetrations on the other end and made it 37-20 with under 4 left in
the
half. Bnei Yehuda got their starters back in and cut it to 39-26 at the
break. In the 3rd Ina Boutenko swished 2 threes against the Bnei Yehuda
zone, and Alhaleem continued to increase her team’s lead. It was 60-41
after
3. Gibson scored Bnei Yehuda’s first 6 points in the 4th to make it
63-47,
but they couldn’t build up enough momentum to go on a serious run
through
out the game. They have until Monday to get healthy, and it’s not going
to
be any easier when Ramla comes to town.
For Ramat Hen:
Tawona Alhaleem – 24 pts (8/16 FGs)
Plenette Pierson – 21 pts
Ina Boutenko – 15 pts
Edwina Brown – 13 pts & 8 rebs
For Bnei Yehuda:
Kelley Gibson – 23 pts (4/9 3pt FGs, 4/6 2pt FGs)
Leigh Aziz – 15 pts
Elizur Holon 73 – Maccabi Ashdod 80
Holon dropped its fourth home game of the season, after again letting a
4th
quarter lead slip away. Ashdod used Holon’s many turnovers to get easy
baskets and led 25-20 after 1. In the 2nd they increased the lead to
eight,
but Holon later managed to gain a 36-35 lead but trailed 40-38 at the
half.
Neither team felt like playing defense in the 3rd, Jo Ruth Woods &
Kristina
Covington stood out for their respective teams. Holon got a 59-56 lead
with
3:30 minutes left in the 3rd and took a 62-60 edge into the 4th. As
usual,
Holon lost focus in the final 10 minutes. Aja Jones fouled out after
picking
up a technical foul, Holon had too many turnovers and was stuck on 2
points
in the first 7 minutes. Ashdod led 73-64 and held on to win.
For Ashdod:
Jo Ruth Woods – 28 pts (11/15 FGs, 6/10 FTs), 11 rebs, 4 steals
Kenya Larkin – 15 pts, 3 assists
Sarit Arbel – 14 pts, 7 rebs
Vika Rudovski 13 pts
For Holon:
Shala Reese – 16 pts, 6 rebs
Kristina Covington – 15 pts, 9 rebs
Einav Aslolin – 13 pts
Aja Brown – 12 pts, 6 rebs
Elizur Ramla 95 – Hapoel Petah Tikva 77
Ramla is still undefeated.
For Ramla:
Ayana Walker - 24 pts (10/11 FGs, 4/4 FTs), 11 rebs
Amber Hall - 16 pts (7/9 FGs, 2/5 FTs)
Monika Veselovski – 14 pts (4/8 2pt FGs, 1/6 3pt FGs, 3/3 FTs)
For Petah Tikva:
Molly Creamer – 19 pts (7/13 FGs, 4/4 FTs), 3 assists
Tiffany Listenbee – 18 pts (8/11 FGs, 2/4 FTs)
Rivi Grinboym - 15 pts (6/11 FGs)
Maccabi Raanana 80 – ASA Jerusalem 66
Raanana made 11 of 16 threes in the first half, leading 28-20 after one
and
51-37 at the break. After 3, Raanana still led 65-49. Susan Murray &
Alina
Morhova then fouled out, and Jerusalem got as close as 68-60. Michelle
Greco
and Inbal Shnapper’s 2 key threes pushed the lead back to 14 in the
end.
For Raanana:
Michelle Greco – 23 pts, 9 rebs
Ednisha Curry – 13 pts, 7 assists
Alina Morhova – 12 pts (4 threes)
Inbal Shnapper – 11 pts, 11 rebs, 3 steals, 3 assists
Hanna Hileli – 9 pts, 4 steals
For Jerusalem:
Valerie Muoneke – 23 pts, 11 rebs
Tijana Rus – 23 pts, 8 rebs
Telisha Quarles – 9 pts, 4 steals, 4 assists
Round 8’s MVP: Gunta Basko
Ramat Hasharon keeps replacing players and switching lineups, but one
thing
stayed the same from day 1. Gunta Basko is the key for the team’s
success.
The modest Basko is just everywhere on the court, getting the job done
quietly, always coming up with the big play at the right time.
Yesterday in
Motzkin she jumped on the floor more often than to the rim, finishing
with
14 pts, 6 boards and 7 steals, with the last one being the biggest play
of
the game.
Round 8’s First Team:
Aluma Goren – Aluma is looking truly great this season, and yesterday
she
made sure nobody missed Latinovic. Goren had 9 points and dished out 9
assists, coming out on top of her match up with Laine Selwyn.
Jo Ruth Woods – Led Ashdod to its 2nd win of the season with 28 points
on
73% shooting, added 11 boards and 4 steals.
Tawona Alhaleem – Scored 24 points on good shooting in Ramat Hen’s
important
win over Bnei Yehuda.
Gunta Basko – Does it all, all the time.
Ayana Walker – A near prefect game for Walker, who finished with 24
points
on 10 of 11 shooting, grabbed 11 boards and got 4 steals in Ramla’s win
over
Petah Tikva.
The Standings:
1. Elizur Ramla 8-0
2. Maccabi Ramat Hen 6-2
3. Ramat Hasharon 6-2
4. Bnei Yehuda 6-2
5. Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 5-3
6. Hapoel Petah Tikva 3-5
7. Maccabi Raanana 3-5
8. Maccabi Ashdod 2-6
9. ASA Jerusalem 1-7
10. Elizur Holon 0-8