Haifa/Motzkin got a big win over Ramat Hen despite losing Lynn Pride to
injury, and moved up to 3rd place. There was no change at the very top
of
the standings as Ramla had little trouble with Raanana and Ramat
Hasharon
beat Ashdod. In other games, Bnei Yehuda squeezed out a victory in
Jerusalem
and Petah Tikva beat Holon.
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 89 – Maccabi Ramat Hen 82
Haifa/Motzkin hosted Ramat Hen in an important game between two of the
league’s most talented teams. Motzkin came out on top despite losing
Lynn
Pride in the 3rd quarter and Danielle Crockrom in the 4th.
Ramat Hen scored the game’s first five points but Pride answered on the
other end with a variety of penetrations to the hoop. Plenette Pierson
wasn’t missing, Ornit Shwartz and Shira Haelyon came off the bench and
hit
threes and Ramat Hen took a 20-16 lead. Laine Selwyn hit a three on the
other end, but Shwartz who played a great 1st half hit another three to
make
it 23-19. Crystal Givens set the score after 1 with two free throws,
23-21.
The Lynn Pride show continued in the 2nd quarter. She put back two
misses
and hit a three to put Motzkin up 30-29 with about 6 minutes to go in
the
half. The 2nd quarter featured lots of substitutions on both teams but
the
tempo didn’t slow down. Shwartz hit her third three pointer to give
Ramat
Hen the lead back, but not for long. The lead switched sides often and
Motzkin led 41-40 after 1.
Pierson drew Givens’ 3rd foul early in the 3rd quarter for an ‘And 1’,
and
Ramat Hen regained the lead. Pride tied the game with another beautiful
drive, which started a 9-3 local run. Selwyn made it 52-48 at the line
with
about 7 minutes to go in the quarter, but soon afterwards Pride took a
shot
to the ribs and slowly walked over to the bench. She pulled a muscle
and was
in great pain on the sidelines, but was able to walk on her own at the
end
of the 3rd and was taken to a hospital. Meanwhile her teammates on the
court
didn’t skip a bit. Selwyn, Givens and Crockrom led another Motzkin
charge to
end the 3rd up 70-59.
Rinat Levin gave Motzkin its biggest lead of the game at 74-61 with
about 8
minutes to play. Tawona Alhaleem who started the 4th on the bench
re-entered
for Pierson and scored Ramat Hen’s 1st basket of the quarter after
nearly
three minutes. Ina Boutenko and Alhaleem kept trimming the gap and made
it
just 74-67 with about 5:30 to play, but Motzkin pushed it back up to
11. A
three by Boutenko made it just eight, and Pierson who finally got back
in
drew Crockrom’s 5th foul and made 2 free throws. Ramat Hen pressed on
defense, got a stop and Pierson swished a jumper that made it just
76-80
with a little over two minutes to play. The momentum was clearly in
Ramat
Hen’s favor, and Motzkin called a time out. Givens made a huge three
point
play to stop the visitors’ run, and Adi Kindler hit twice from the line
to
make it 85-76. Ramat Hen still wouldn’t give up and cut it to 81-85
with an
Alhaleem three point play, with one minute to play. Ramat Hen tried
everything to get the ball out of Selwyn’s hands but couldn’t and paid
for
it. Selwyn drove on three opponents and drew a foul. She hit both to
make it
87-81 with 40 seconds to play, and Ramat Hen couldn’t recover.
Pride’s injury turned out to be not too serious and she is probable for
Monday’s game in Ramla.
For Motzkin:
Laine Selwyn - 24 pts (5/8 FGs, 12/12 FTs), 5 rebs
Crystal Givens - 17 pts (6/14 FGs), 9 rebs
Lynn Pride - 17 pts (7/11 FGs)
Danielle Crockrom - 16 pts (6/9 FGs), 8 rebs
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson - 20 pts (7/8 FGs), 5 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem - 18 pts (6/13 FGs)
Ornit Shwartz - 15 pts (6/9 FGs) - all in 1st half
Edwina Brown - 13 pts (5/11 FGs), 5 rebs, 3 ast
ASA Jerusalem 72 - Bnei Yehuda 75
Bnei Yehuda struggled but came out on top in a must win for them.
For Bnei Yehuda:
Leigh Aziz 27 pts
DeTrina White 15 pts
Erin Thorn & Hila Yizhar 11 pts each
For Jerusalem:
Valarie Muoneke 24 pts
Telisha Quarles & Ivana Tuvic 18 pts each
Hapoel Petah Tikva 68 - Elizur Holon 58
Petah Tikva hit just 4 of 27 from beyond the 3 point arc against
Holon's
zone defense.
For Petah Tikva:
Chanel Wright-Green 23 pts
Jackie Moore 18 pts
Molly Creamer 14 pts
For Holon:
Einav Asulin 17 pts
Sivan Balalis 13 pts
Maccabi Raanana 65 - Elizur Ramla 76
It looks a lot closer than it was. Ramla dominated the game for three
quarters, but Ljiljana Latinovic had a great 4th quarter, which helped
Raanana become only the 2nd team to lose to Ramla by less than 16
points.
Ayana Walker terrorized Raanana with 6 blocks and Amber Hall had five
steals, and both of them cleaned the glass on both ends of the floor.
For Ramla:
Ayana Walker - 23 pts, 14 rebs, 6 blocks
Amber Hall - 17 pts, 5 steals
Ina Gourevitch - 14 pts
Monika Veselovski - 11 pts
Draguslava Zakula - 8 pts
For Raanana:
Lili Latinovic - 18 pts
Ednisha Curry - 17 pts
Inbal Shnapper - 8 pts
Ramat Hasharon 88, Maccabi Ashdod 81
Ramat Hasharon trailed 64-61 after three quarters but came away with
the
win.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gwen Jackson 30 pts, 11 rebs
Aluma Goren 15 pts
For Ashdod:
Lenae Williams 28 pts
Vika Rudovski & Sarit Arbel 20 pts each
Round 13 MVP – Laine Selwyn
Selwyn is one of the league’s top point guards, if not the best one,
and vs.
Ramat Hen she proved why. At the start of the game she was hitting
outside
shots while her teammates warmed up, and she kept them focused at the
end.
Selwyn drew plenty of fouls through out the game, and mainly at the end
when
Motzkin really needed the points. She finished with 24 points and only
three
misses in Motzkin’s important win.
Round 13’s 1st Team:
Laine Selwyn – 24 pts, 5 rebs and very few mistakes.
Crystal Givens – Givens scored most of her points in the 2nd half in
which
Motzkin lost the services of its other two posts, and made the play of
the
game with a momentum changing three point play with about two minutes
to
play.
Gwen Jackson – Ramat Hasharon stuttered against Ashdod but Jackson had
her
best game of the season with 30 points and 11 boards.
Leigh Aziz – Aziz has been playing very well lately, and Bnei Yehuda
needed
each one of her 27 points to rescue a victory in Jerusalem and end
their 5
game losing streak.
Ayana Walker – Walker did it all against Raanana. She threw a block
party
with six rejections, including a couple of blocked three point
attempts. She
added 23 points and 14 rebounds – one less than the entire Raanana
team.
The Standings:
1. Ramla 13-0
2. Ramat Hasharon 10-3
3. Haifa/Motzkin 10-2
4. Ramat Hen 9-4
5. Bnei Yehuda 7-6
6. Petah Tikva 6-7
7. Raanana 5-8
8. Jerusalem 3-10
9. Ashdod 2-11
10. Holon 0-13