Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin pulled off a huge win and advanced to the Semi
Finals
at the expense of Ramat Hasharon. Elizur Ramla & Maccabi Ashdod
advanced as
well with another easy win and Ramat Hen lost to Bnei Yehuda but still
advances thanks to the 18 point edge they had from game 1.
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 80 – Ramat Hasharon 62
Lynn Pride & Laine Selwyn led the way as Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin used a
great
game to eliminate the back-2-back Cup holders from Ramat Hasharon.
Motzkin
as you know had to make up for the 7pt gap in which they lost at Ramat
Hasharon 3 days before, and they wasted no time. Five points by Selwyn
along
with 2 by Danielle Crockrom put Motzkin up 7-0 right away. Crockrom was
also
setting the tone in Motzkin’s man-to man D but a couple of And 1’s kept
Ramat Hasharon very much in it. Selwyn’s 3rd three-pointer of the
quarter
pushed the local lead to 21-14, and they led 25-16 after 1. Selwyn had
13
pts in the quarter.
Pride & Selwyn started the 2nd quarter on the bench but Crockrom with 4
points and Crystal Givens with a deuce increased the lead to 31-16.
Ramat
Hasharon responded with good ball movement against the zone and 5
straight
points by Aluma Goren cut it to 11. The gap remained intact almost till
halftime but Gunta Basko & Goren made it just a 9 point deficit at the
break, which actually meant a 2 point game, 45-36. Pride led all
scorers
with 14 points, Crockrom also had a great 1st half with 10 pts & 8
boards.
Basko was the only Ramat Hasharon player in double figures with 13.
Crockrom picked up her 4th foul 3 and a half minutes into the 3rd and
had to
watch the rest of the quarter from the bench. Motzkin still led by
around 10
but Pride with a 3pt play started a Motzkin run with under 4 to go in
the
3rd. Selwyn was also back causing havoc after not scoring in the 2nd.
Ramat
Hasharon struggled with Goren on the bench with some foul trouble too
since
it seemed that other than her and Basko, nobody felt like shooting or
in
Gwen Jackson’s case, didn’t get enough touches. Ramat Hasharon managed
just
9 points in a terrible quarter and trailed 60-43.
The Motzkin fans wanted to start celebrating already but an 8-2 run by
Ramat
Hasharon, which included two 3-pointers by Basko, cut it to only 66-53
which
meant a 6pt game with 5:30 to play. Motzkin took a timeout and returned
with
a play for Pride, who did not disappoint. She drove the lane and got to
the
rim with such ease, pushing the lead up to a promising 71-53. Ramat
Hasharon
didn’t give up and used a 6-0 run to cut it to 11, as in to 4, with 3
minutes to play. Selwyn then drew Goren’s 5th foul and things continued
to
go down hill for the visitors as Basko came down badly after rejecting
a
shot and had to leave with a sprained ankle with 1:37 left. Motzkin
added
some more points from the line until it was officially party time.
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Lynn Pride 25 pts (11/17 FGs), 6 rebs
Laine Selwyn 24 pts (5/5 2pt FGs, 3/3 3pt FGs, 9/12 FTs), 3 steals
Crystal Givens 15 pts (6/13 FGs)
Danielle Crockrom 10 pts (4/8 FGs), 9 boards
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gunta Basko 21 pts (9/12 FGs)
Gwen Jackson 14 pts (4/9 FGs, 6/8 FTs), 9 rebs
Aluma Goren 13 pts (6/12 FGs), 4 rebs, 3 assts, 2 stls
Lidiya Varbanova 7 pts
Tamar Maoz 5 pts
Shiela Lambert was not at the game and will probably be released.
Maccabi Ashdod 84 - Elizur Holon 67
Ashdod didn't sweat much tonight either and clinched their 2nd straight
Cup
semi finals.
Holon is playing with just 1 foreigner.
Sarit Arbel led Ashdod with 17 pts.
Bnei Yehuda 82 - Maccabi Ramat Hen 77
Ramat Hen won the 1st game by 18, and so Bnei Yehuda's win wasn't
enough for
them to advance to the semi finals.
For Bnei Yehuda:
Leigh Aziz 23 pts
Erin Thorn 20 pts
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson - 22 pts
Ina Boutenko - 14 pts
Elizur Ramla 66 - Maccabi Raanana 43
Looks like Raanana's back to scoring 45 ppg... Ramla rolled again and
made
the semis.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall 15 pts
Ina Gourevitch 9 pts
Tal Salz 8 pts
For Raanana:
Michelle Smith & Ednisha Curry 12 pts each
The Semi finals draw will be held on Sunday. League play resumes on Monday.