First of all, we forgot to update about Safsal's player of the month for December... better late then never.
Player of the month – Amber Hall
We’ve lost count on how many times we’ve picked Amber Hall as player of
the
month, but you just can argue with numbers like hers. Hall racked up 5
double doubles in 5 games in December. She averaged 16.8 point per
game, 15
rebound per game and played great defense while leading Ramla to 5
wins.
A mighty honorable mention – Michelle Greco
Greco spent just one month in Raanana, and what a month she had. Greco
scored just under 25 points per game, grabbed 6.6 rebounds per game and
got
2.5 steals per game. She led Raanana to three wins in five games, and
nailed
a game winner in one of them. Prior to her arrival, Raanana lost four
of its
six games.
Israeli Cup quarter finals
Before we get to the games, a quick explanation of our weird cup
system.
Teams play 2 games (one at home, one away), the winner of the series is
decided after adding up the scores of both games.
Ramat Hasharon 66 – Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 59
Ramat Hasharon version 2.0 didn’t look too threatening and struggled
against
Motzkin for most of the game. The 4th quarter was very poorly played by
both
teams but things hit a new low for Motzkin who managed just 4 points in
the
quarter and let Ramat Hasharon build its biggest lead of the game going
into
Thursday’s 2nd game.
Sheila Lambert started on the bench for Ramat Hasharon and Gwen Jackson led her team to a 6-0 lead as both teams started out slow. Motzkin scored its first basket after nearly three and a half minutes but needed just 1 minute to tie. Ramat Hasharon took a 12-8 lead but Motzkin, led by Crystal Givens, tightened their D, got some steals and went on a 13-0 run to gain a 21-12 lead after 1.
Ramat Hasharon scored the first 4 points on the 2nd quarter but Lynn Pride and Lena Mustafina quickly made it a 10 point game again. Mustafina nailed 2 threes to give Motzkin a 14 point lead, 38-24 with 3 minutes left in the half. Mustafina had 14 points already, but a 3 by Tamar Maoz made it just 32-39 at the half.
Ramat Hasharon wasted no time and erased the gap with an 8-1 run at the start of the 3rd quarter, and the game remained close through out. Ramat Hasharon took the lead finally on a big 3 by Sharon Zeevi, 45-44. Motzkin regained the lead and was up 55-54 after 3. Gwen Jackson, who had some foul trouble, and Lambert who played just 16 minutes started the 4th quarter. Mustafina, who didn’t score in the 3rd, didn’t start the 4th and didn’t score in the 2nd half. Pride scored the quarter’s 1st basket, but nobody would have guessed that that play was going to provide half of Motzkin points in the quarter.
Ramat Hasharon led 60-59 with about 5:30 to play, and Motzkin refused to put the round orange object through the net despite getting good looks. Ramat Hasharon wasn’t exactly lighting it up either and led by 3 with under 2 minutes to play, but a big block by Gunta Basko led to a typical Lidiya Varbanova basket on the other end. Motzkin missed again and Varbanova scored to make it 66-59 with 45 seconds to play. Motzkin got two more chances to narrow the gap but missed twice and will have to win by at least eight to advance on Thursday.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Lidiya Varbanova – 16 pts (7/14), 6 rebs
Gwen Jackson – 14 pts (5/7), 7 rebs
Gunta Basko – 11 pts (5/10 FGs), 6 rebs, 3 blocks
Tamar Maoz & Sharon Zeevi – 7 pts each
Aluma Goren – 6 pts, 7 ast
Sheila Lambert – 3 pts (1/5), 2 rebs
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Laine Selwyn – 14 pts (4/13 FGs), 7 rebs
Lena Mustafina – 14 pts (5/9 FGs), 3 steals
Lynn Pride – 12 pts (5/18 FGs), 5 rebs
Danielle Crockrom – 11 pts (5/12 FGs), 6 rebs
Crystal Givens – 6 pts (3/14 FGs), 11 rebs, 2 steals
Maccabi Ramat Hen 93 – Bnei Yehuda 75
Ramat Hen looked great, led through out the game, and is on the verge
of
making the Israel Cup semis. Bnei Yehuda made too many mistakes at the
end
of each quarter and Ramat Hen took advantage. Leigh Aziz played well
for
Bnei Yehuda and the Israelis did their part, but DeTrina White didn’t
have a
good offensive game and Erin Thorn – in her debut game – settled for
long
range bombs without much success. Tawona Alhaleem led a balanced
scoring
effort for Ramat Hen.
It didn’t look good for Bnei Yehuda from the start as White picked up 2 quick fouls. Edwina Brown got 2 steals that sparked Ramat Hen fast breaks, most finished by Alhaleem. They led 12-5, but Aziz provided most of Bnei Yehuda’s points and they closed the gap to 14-12 after Hila Yizhar’s three. Ramat Hen closed the quarter with a 13-4 run and led 27-16 after 1. Edwina Brown, who officially took over the starting point guard spot, played very well and created many easy baskets for her team.
Plenette Pierson gave the locals a 33-24 lead with over 6 minutes to play in the half, and Bnei Yehuda decided to wake up without Aziz and Thorn in the lineup. Ramat Hen let up a little and Bnei Yehuda’s Israelis made a 9-2 run and tied the game at 35 with 3 minutes to go in the half. Brown gave Ramat Hen the lead back from the line, and their press helped them close the half with another run and take a 49-38 halftime lead.
A couple of And 1’s by Brown and Pierson increased the lead to 17 early in the 3rd. Good minutes from Tal Milchan helped Bnei Yehuda close to 66-53 with about 2 minutes to play in the quarter, but Ramat Hen made a 10-2 run to open a 76-55 lead after 3. The lead kept growing in the 4th and reached 25. But, for a change, Bnei Yehuda was the one to make a run at the end and used a 9-2 spurt to lose by 18, but it’s hard to believe that will make a difference in game 2 on Thursday.
For Ramat Hen:
Tawona Alhaleem 20 pts
Lena Pedulova & Plenette Pierson 17 pts each.
For Bnei Yehuda:
Leigh Aziz 25 pts
DeTrina White 15 pts
Erin Thorn 11 pts (1/1 2pt
FGs,
3/11 3pt FGs).
Elizur Holon 79 – Maccabi Ashdod 93 pts
Holon showed up with 7 players and a completely inexperienced coach,
and
lost to Ashdod who hit an amzing 20 plus threes in the game. Early on
Holon
stayed close despite Ashdod’s six 1st quarter threes and trailed just
26-24
after 1. The threes kept coming in the 2nd, Holon got in foul trouble
and
eased up on defense, and Kenya Larkin & Vika Rudovski helped Ashdod
slowly
pull away.
Holon wouldn’t give up and looked surprisingly good, and went up 44-39
with
3 minutes to go in the half. At this point Holon ran out of gas, and
Vika
Rudovski hit 2 threes to spark a 12-0 Ashdod run to give her team a
51-45
lead at the half.
Sivan Balalis, Kristina Covington and the Holon youngsters tried to
keep it
close in the 3rd but Ashdod’s threes were too much to handle.
For Ashdod:
Vika Rudovski – 27 pts
Kenya Larkin – 18 pts (6 threes)
For Holon:
Sivan Balalis 25 pts
Kristina Covington 19 pts
Maccabi Raanana 47 – Elizur Ramla 69
Center Michelle Smith didn’t play for Raanana, but she also probably
wouldn’t have been able to prevent the outcome of this match up.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 18 pts, 17 rebs
Ayana Walker & Monika Veselovski 17 pts each.
For Raanana:
Inbal Shnapper 11 pts
Lili Latinovic 10 pts