The top six teams battled each other in three interesting games, and
surprisingly enough the Ramla game ended up being the closest.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 88 – Ramat Hasharon 73
Ramat Hasharon came into Ramat Hen’s house without sharp shooter
Natasha
Bratskova who broke her wrist and will miss at least one month, and
faced a
determined team on a wonderful shooting day. Tawona Alhaleem had 5
points in
Ramat Hen’s 13-0 run, which featured many fast breaks, to open the
game.
Orna Ostfeld quickly called a timeout and Gwen Jackson got an easy
basket to
get the visitors on the scoreboard. Aluma Goren helped Ramat Hasharon
close
to within 15-10, but Ramat Hen went on a 12-4 run to finish the quarter
up
27-14.
Ramat Hasharon managed to slow down Ramat Hen a little in the 2nd, and
Tamar
Maoz hit a three to make it 27-19 with over 7 minutes to go in the
half.
Gunta Basko got her first points of the game and dished an assist to
three
point play by Anat Goldberg to make it 36-26 with about 3 minutes till
halftime, but Ramat Hen again closed strong. Ornit Shwartz swished yet
another three, Ramat Hen forced a quick turnover and Plenette Pierson
scored
to give the locals a 41-26 halftime lead.
Ramat Hasharon benched Basko at the start of the 3rd, which really did
not
help their already low intensity level. Jackson picked up a quick 3rd
foul,
Alhaleem hit both free throws and a sweet move by Edwina Brown made it
45-30. Jackson stayed in and delivered offensively but Alhaleem hit 3
three
pointers and Ramat Hen’s lead grew to 17. Another three by Ina
Boutenko,
Ramat Hen’s 9th out of 13 attempts, increased the lead to 20. Sharon
Zeevi
hit a three and Varbanova woke up as well to cut the lead to 14, but
Ramat
Hen led 67-54 after three. Ramat Hen’s defense allowed more points in
the
3rd quarter than in the entire first half, but with the way they were
hitting it hardly made a difference.
The trend continued in the 4th quarter. Ramat Hasharon cut the lead to
11
again, but Brown in another beautiful drive kept them at arm’s length.
Brown
scored 4 more points to make it 84-64 with about two minutes to play,
and
Ramat Hen maintained the gap.
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson - 23 pts (9/19 FGs), 9 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem - 22 pts
Edwina Brown - 19 pts, 5 rebs, 5 steals, 4 ast
Ornit Shwartz – 13 pts
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gwen Jackson 16 pts
Lidiya Varbanova 14 pts
Aluma Goren 12 pts
Gunta
Basko 9 pts
Elizur Ramla 76 – Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 64
By Lior Klinger
Motzkin wasn’t feeling 100% before the game, but came in with lots of
motivation and faith. Ramla may have won 16 straight games, but showed
up
just as hungry knowing how hard it was for them to win in Motzkin.
Motzkin
had to play a near perfect game to win in Ramla, but that wasn’t the
case.
Motzkin suffered from foul trouble and a terrible day from downtown and
trailed by double figures for most of the game, but they wouldn’t give
up
and can hold their heads high.
Ramla drew 3 fouls on its very first possession, yet Motzkin was able
to
take a 9-6 lead as Lynn Pride, who hardly practiced all week with a
strained
muscle, scored six. Monika Veselovski hit two threes to spark a 14-2
Ramla
run which gave them a 20-11 lead after one.
Pride and Danielle Crockrom started the 2nd quarter on the bench with 2
fouls each, and Ina Gourevitch was heating up for Ramla. She scored all
of
her 11 points in the quarter without even missing. Ramla led by about
10
through out an evenly played quarter, and took a 41-30 lead at the
half.
Pride scored Motzkin’s first 5 points in the 3rd, but Liron Cohen, who
saw a
lot of minutes at the expense of Zakula who didn’t pose and offensive
threat, made a three point play and the lead grew to 46-35. Motzkin
began
bombing away from three point land, and a 13-2 run gave Ramla a 57-37
lead
with 4 minutes to go in the quarter. Motzkin tightened up their D and
got a
few fast breaks, but Pride made an awkward movement and left for the
bench
in pain. A momentum breaking three point play by Amber Hall made it
64-47
after three.
Motzkin went on a 7-0 run to start the 4th and celebrated its first 3
of the
game which made it just 64-54 with 6:30 to play. But, with Givens and
Crockrom watching from the bench for some reason, Ramla’s next
possession
lasted for over 90 seconds as they drew fouls and got offensive
rebounds.
When Motzkin’s 4 guard linuep finally got the ball back they took quick
shots and lost their momentum. Givens and Crockrom reentered with about
4
minutes to play, and the lead was 12. Cohen hit a three to make it
71-59 and
Pride committed her 5th foul with under two minutes to go and took a
well
earned seat, but Motzkin wouldn’t let Ramla pull away again.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall - 16 pts (6/12 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 17 rebs, 2 steals, 2 ast
Monika Veselovski - 17 pts (6/10 FGs)
Liron Cohen - 13 pts (4/9 FGs)
Ayana Walker – 12 pts (2/5 FGs, 8/12 FTs), 8 rebs
Ina Gourevicth – 11 pts
For Motzkin:
Lynn Pride - 16 pts (7/11 FGs), 3 rebs, 2 steals
Danielle Crockrom - 14 pts (5/8 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 2 rebs
Laine Selwyn - 13 pts (3/7 2pt FGs, 1/7 3pt FGs, 4/7 FTs), 6 rebs, 4
steals,
4 ast
Crystal Givens – 9 pts (4/7 FGs), 3 rebs, 2 steals
Bnei Yehuda 88 Hapoel Petah Tikva 68
By Shlomi Peri
Bnei Yehuda exploded to a big win and pretty much secured a spot in the
upper playoffs. Bnei Yehuda went inside right from the start as DeTrina
White & Leigh Aziz helped them to a 14-9 lead. Hila Yizhar hit a three
to
make it 17-9, and used a great pass from Erin Thorn to make it 22-11
with an
‘And 1’. Bnei Yehuda led 28-17 after one as White scored 11 and held
Chanel
Wright-Green scoreless.
Wright-Green hit a three and Jackie Moore had a put back to bring Petah
Tikva back to within 30-24, but Thorn swished 2 threes against the
Petah
Tikva zone to make it 36-24. Yizhar & Taly Klain hit threes as well
and
showed that it’s pretty risky defending Bnei Yehuda with a zone. Bnei
Yehuda
opened a 17 point lead but Petah Tikva did some damage control with an
8-0
run and trailed 52-43 at the half.
Bnei Yehuda went up 56-47 in four minutes but racked up 6 fouls
including
Aziz’ 4th which sent her to the bench. White covered for Aziz’ absence
with
great hustle under the baskets and wouldn’t let Petah Tikva make their
move.
Thorn and Yizhar, who were both great, kept raining threes and Bnei
Yehuda
led 74-51 going into the 4th.
Petah Tikva started the 4th with a 5-0 run as Moore and Wright-Green
took it
inside. Aziz quickly came back into the game and Bnei Yehuda went up
80-57.
Aziz soon fouled out but Petah Tikva already brought in the youngsters
and
White made sure Bnei Yehuda maintained its big lead.
For Bnei Yehuda:
DeTrina White - 25 pts (10/12 FGs), 9 rebs (4 offensives)
Erin Thorn - 21 pts (3/3 2pt FGs, 3/5 3pt FGs), 6 ast, 3 steals, 2
blocks
Hila Yizhar - 15 pts
Leigh Aziz – 13 pts, 6 rebs
Taly Klain – 11 pts (3/5 3pt FGs)
For Petah Tikva:
Chanel Wright-Green - 29 pts (9/18 FGs, 10/13 FTs)
Jackie Moore - 19 pts (9/14 FGs), 6 rebs
Rivi Grinboym – 10 pts
Molly Creamer – 7 pts (3/5 FGs)
Maccabi Ashdod 84 – ASA Jerusalem 79
For Ashdod:
Lenae Williams 27 pts & 11 rebs
Sarit Arbel 17 pts
For Jerusalem:
Valerie Muoneke 21 pts
Tijana Rus 19 pts
Elizur Holon 43 – Maccabi Raanana 73
Michelle Smith scored 18 for Raanana, and Sivan Balalis had 12 for
Holon.
Round 14 MVP – Amber Hall
It’s not the double double of 16 & 17 that made us pick her this week,
we’re
already used to these kinds of numbers from her. Hall got Motzkin’s
foreigners in foul trouble, grabbed rebound after rebound, chased loose
balls and just wouldn’t let any Ramla possession end without getting
some
points on the board. Hall showed remarkable determination, which
frustrated
the defense of Ramla’s toughest opponent.
Round 14’s First Team
Edwina Brown – Brown ran the show as Ramat Hen used a beautiful team
effort
to earn a big win over Ramat Hasharon. Brown does it all for Ramat Hen,
and
yesterday she had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists.
Amber Hall – Even on a team as talented offensively as Ramla, Hall was
the
one who made all the big baskets at just the right time.
Erin Thorn – Led the Bnei Yehuda charge in the important win over Petah
Tikva with 21 points, six assists and good job defensively on Molly
Creamer.
DeTrina White – White went back to her strong early season form and
took no
prisoners under both baskets, finishing with 25 pts and 9 rebs.
Lenae Williams – Ashdod knew what they were getting when they singed
her – a
great offensive talent. Last night she led Ashdod with 27 points for
its
first league win in five weeks.
Honorable mentions:
Hilla Yizhar – The young Israeli played with lots of confidence and
maturity, hitting threes and scoring on drives.
Lynn Pride – Pride was in obvious pain for much of the 2nd half but
wanted
to stay on the floor and did everything to keep Motzkin in the game.
The Standings
1) Ramla 14-0
2) Ramat Hen 10-4
3) Ramat Hasharon 10-4
4) Haifa/Motzkin 10-4
5) Bnei Yehuda 8-6
6) Petah Tikva 6-8
7) Raanana 6-8
8) Ashdod 3-11
9) Jerusalem 3-11
10) Holon 0-14