Round 10 featured a huge upset, a smaller upset, a near upset and two
blowouts. ASA Jerusalem, who got creamed by everybody but Holon in the
first
half of the season, beat the defending champs of Ramat Hasharon.
Raanana
pulled off a thrilling OT win in Bnei Yehuda and Petah Tikva almost
beat
Haifa/Motzkin. Ramla and Ramat Hen had little trouble with Ashdod and
Holon
respectively.
Some news:
Lenae Williams will finish her 1-month contract with Ramat Hasharon
next
week, and will then join Maccabi Ashdod for the rest of the season.
Rinat Zaltz-Levin, who was on maternity leave, will re-join Hapoel
Haifa/Motzkin next week.
Elizur Holon replaced their coach. Assitant Vito Gilich will take over
for
Shahar Dotan.
ASA Jerusalem 74 � Ramat Hasharon 68
This was supposed to be a big boring blowout, and that's why nobody
knows
what really happened. Aluma Goren sat out again with her sprained
ankle, but
that is no excuse. Jerusalem's Ivana Tuvic was injured and sat out, Mor
Ben
Barak transferred to Ramla prior to the game, and Jerusalem suited up
only
six players. Jerusalem led through out the game and opened a 23-11 lead
after 1. Ramat Hasharon came back in the 2nd and cut the lead to 33-34
till
halftime. The game remained close but Jerusalem took the lead for good
with
2 minutes to play and hung on for the win and pulled off the biggest
surprise of the season.
For Jerusalem:
Valerie Muoneke - 24 pts, 17 rebs, 6 blocks
Tijana Rus � 14 pts
Telisha Quarles & Hila Sobol � 13 pts each each
Ayelet Cohen � 13 pts
For Ramat Hasharon:
Lenae Williams 15 pts
Octavia Blue 14 pts
Tamar Maoz 12 pts
Natasha
Brachkova 9 pts
Lidiya Varbanova 8 pts
Gunta Basko 4 pts
Sharon
Zeevie 4
pts
Anat Goldberg 2 pts
Bnei Yehuda 90 � Maccabi Raanana 92 (OT)
When these two teams met in round 1 it took three overtimes, and this
game
wasn't any less dramatic. Raanana led by double digits in the 3rd
quarter
but Bnei Yehuda stormed back and set up an exciting 4th quarter.
Raanana
committed a few unnecessary fouls and turnovers at the end and helped
Bnei
Yehuda force overtime, but Michelle Greco had the final say as she hit
a big
game winner.
Both teams started out hot and shot well from the outside. Leigh Aziz
and
DeTrina White delivered some And 1's from the inside, but Bnei Yehuda
quickly fell inlove with the three just like Raanana. Ednisha Curry
nailed
three straight threes to give the visitors a 13-6 lead, but Hila Yizhar
scored 5 points in an 8-0 run that gave Bnei Yehuda the lead back. The
game
remained close and Taly Klain hit a three to make it 28-25 for Raanana
after
1.
Bnei Yehuda cooled off and didn't go inside, Greco woke up for Raanana
and
they built a 37-29 lead with about 6 minutes to play in the half. White
returned, drew some fouls and Bnei Yehuda cut it to 34-38, but then
they
turned it over three times and Raanana raced to its biggest lead of the
game, 46-34. The teams traded baskets till the half and Raanana, who
usually
scores 69 pts per game, enjoyed nice contribution off the bench and led
51-39 at the break.
The tempo slowed down in the 3rd, but the gap remained intact early.
Bnei
Yehuda wasn't going to White, Aziz settled for jumpers and Raanana took
a
60-50 lead with about 3 minutes to go in the 3rd. Shiki Falah called a
timeout and managed to wake his team up, and they closed the quarter
with a
9-0 run which included 5 points by Hila Yizhar who had a great game.
Raanana
scored just 9 points in the quarter and led 60-59.
Curry hit a three to make it a 4 point game, but Raanana couldn't pull
away
again. Yizhar hit a three to bring Bnei Yehuda within 69-70, but fouled
out
shortly afterwards as Michelle Greco made a big 3 point play to push
Raanana's lead to 74-69 with 2 minutes to go, but the game was far from
over.
Sarit Menashe hit 4 free throws to cut it to 73-74 with 41 seconds to
play,
and Tal Milchen stripped Greco under the basket and set up a layup for
White
who gave the lead to the locals. Alina Morchova hit a huge three on the
other end and Raanana went up 2 with 13 tics on the clock. Curry
committed
an ill-advised foul on Kelley Gibson, and it's no accident that her
name
hasn't been mentioned yet. She hit them both and tied it. Greco went
strong
to the hoop at the other end, got fouled, swished twice and gave
Raanana a
79-77 lead with 4.6 seconds to go. Raanana foolishly fouled again,
Menashe
clanked twice, but White was naturally there for the put back to tie
the
game and force the 4th overtime period between the teams this season.
Aziz scored Bnei Yehuda's first 6 points, and Greco answered on the
other
end, mainly by getting to the free throw line. Greco's 2nd steal in the
extra period led to a three by Hanna Hileli which gave Raanana a 90-85
lead
with under 2 minutes to play. Bnei Yehuda wouldn't give up and tied the
game
with a 3 by Klain and two Aziz FTs., 90-90. Raanana called a timeout
with 29
seconds to go. Curry dribbled the seconds away, went to the hole,
missed but
got the rebound. The ball got to Greco who calmly buried the jumper
with 3.5
seconds to go and won a big road game for Raanana.
For Raanana:
Ednisha Curry � 27 pts (5/10 from downtown), 5 ast
Michelle Greco � 24 pts (7/16 FGs, 10/13 FTs)
Inbal Shnapper, Hanna Hileli and Alina Morchova � 9 pts each
Susan Murray 7 pts, Inbar Vaksman 5 pts
For Bnei Yehuda:
Hila Yizhar � 24 pts (4/4 2pt FGs, 4/7 3pt FGs, 4/4 FTs)
DeTrina White � 23 pts (7/8 FGs, 9/10 FTs), 15 rebs (8 offensives!)
Leigh Aziz � 18 pts, 7 rebs
Kelley Gibson 11 pts, Taly Klain 9 pts
Hapoel Petah Tikva 82 � Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 86
Petah Tikva led 23-12 after a great first quarter, but Motzkin regained
the
lead in the 2nd and eventually got an important road win.
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Nakia Sanford � 27 pts, 13 rebs
Lynn Pride � 17 pts, 12 rebs
Crystal Givens � 12 pts, 5 ast
Lena Mustafina � 7 pts
Adi Kindler � 7 pts, 5 rebs
For Petah Tikva:
Molly Creamer 27 pts
Rivi Grinboym 23 pts
Maccabi Ashdod 60 � Elizur Ramla 85
For Ramla:
Monika Veselovski 20 pts
Amber Hall & Ayana Walker 17 pts each
For Ashdod:
Kenya Larkin 20 pts
Ebony Tanner 14 pts
Sarit Arbel 9 pts
Elizur Holon 59 � Maccabi Ramat Hen 103
For Ramat Hen:
Lena Fedulova 22 pts
Plenette Pierson & Edwina Brown 15 pts each
Mirav
Dori 13 pts
Tawona Alhaleem 12 pts
For Holon:
Sivan Balalis 21 pts
Aja Brown 15 pts
Round 10's MVP � Valerie Muoneke
24 pts, 17 rebounds, six blocks and a victory over Ramat Hasharon
earned
Muoneke the crown. In her 2nd season in Israel, Muoneke is having a
very
good season and her teammates finally joined her in a big way.
Round 10's First Team:
Ednisha Curry � Raanana's energetic point guard loves winning more than
anything else, and her 27 points, 5 assists, leadership and
responsibility
helped Raanana steal one in Bnei Yehuda.
Michelle Greco � Raanana's excellent scorer took charge at crunch time
and
drew fouls, made free throws, got two big steals and hit a huge game
winner
with 3.5 seconds on the clock.
Nakia Sanford � Sanford was unstoppable with a 27 & 13 effort which
helped
Motzkin get a tough road win in Petah Tikva.
Hila Sobol � The youngster from Jerusalem stepped up for the injured
Ivana
Tuvic and provided 13 unexpected points as Jerusalem upset Ramat
Hasharon.
Valerie Muoneke � Muoneke was 4 blocks away from a triple double in
Jerusalem's unbelievable win.
Honorable mentions:
Both of their teams failed to get the W, but such great efforts should
not
go unnoticed�
Hila Izhar � In what was by far her best game of the season, Izhar
scored 24
points connecting on 4 for 7 from downtown. She was money for Bnei
Yehuda
all game long. Unlike some other young talented players, Izhar chose to
go
to a team who will let her play 30 minutes a night and so far she's the
newcomer of the year.
Molly Creamer � Hit 7 threes on great shooting in her best game this
season,
unfortunately for Petah Tikva it wasn't enough for a win.
The Standings:
1. Ramla 10-0
2. Ramat Hen 8-2
3. Ramat Hasharon 7-3
4. Haifa/Motzkin 7-3
5. Bnei Yehuda 6-4
6. Petah Tikva 4-6
7. Raanana 4-6
8. Ashdod 2-8
9. Jerusalem 2-8
10. Holon 0-10