Ramat Hasharon 56, Delta Basket 71
In the first game of the Europe Cup's Pan-European Phase, Ramat
Hasharon
hosted Delta Basket Alessandria from Italy. Only the team that finishes
the
bracket at first place automatically advances to the quarter finals,
and
Alessandria is most definitely Ramat Hasharon's biggest competition.
That's
why the Israelis had to win this game but without point guard Aluma
Goren
who sat out with a sprained ankle Ramat Hasharon looked lost against
the
strong Italian defense and suffered its first loss in the Cup.
Delta Basket used fast breaks to go up 20-14 after 1, Gunta Basko with
7
points and Lenae Williams with 4 kept Ramat Hasharon in close range. In
the
2nd quarter Brooke Reves stroked 3 straight three pointers for Delta
Basket,
as the visitors continued to control the game. Williams with 10 points
in
the quarter made sure her team would only be down 38-26 at the break.
Ramat Hasharon scored six quick points to start the 3rd, but Asjha
Jones and
Delta Basket answered with a 10-2 run. Anastasia Kostaki took over the
game
and carried the Italians to a 56-38 lead at the end of 3. Ramat
Hasharon
showed a little more defensive effort to start the 4th quarter. Lidiya
Milkova and Lenae Williams helped cut the gap to 58-46 but Stefania
Bottaro
drained two open jumpers to make it 62-46 and Ramat Hasharon could not
recover.
Boxscore