Only the top six teams were in action, and all three games were
interesting.
Yes, even Ramla.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 97 – Hapoel Petah Tikva 91 (OT)
Petah Tikva played a great game and held a 6 point lead in the 4th
quarter,
but Ramat Hen used a full court press to tie the game at 80 with 8.5
seconds
to play. Ramat Hen had a foul to give, and Edwina Brown committed it
with 3
seconds to go by pulling the jersey of Molly Creamer, who was on fire.
The
refs chose to ignore the rules and called a regular foul. Chanel
Wright-Green’s deep three bounced out and the game went to overtime.
Ramat
Hen built a 9 point lead in the OT thanks in much to Tawona Alhaleem
and got
an important win.
Ramat Hen barely missed in the first quarter. Brown got two quick
steals to
get her team running, while Jackie Moore was Petah Tikva’s main
offensive
weapon. Ramat Hen easily got the ball inside to Plenette Pierson who
made
mid range jumpers to give the locals a 10-5 lead. Brown was getting
easy
points under the hoop, and Ramat Hen led 27-21 after 1.
Petah Tikva went into a zone and focused on Pierson, got a couple of
stops
and cut the lead to 3, but Nomi Kolodny beat the buzzer twice for 5
points
and Ramat Hen raced to a 36-26 lead. Creamer with a jumper and a block
on
Pierson that led to a Taly Noy layup quickly narrowed the gap. Petah
Tikva
started pressing and Creamer hit a 3 to make it just 38-37. It was tied
at
40 at the half after Pierson picked up a foul and a technical. Moore
led
everybody with 16 at the half and Brown had 15 for the locals.
Moore and Wright-Green helped the visitors to their first lead at
44-42.
Wright –Green hit four more points to tie it at 48 with under six
minutes to
play in the 3rd, and then the Molly Creamer show started. She swished
three
straight from downtown to put her team up 57-50. Ramat Hen was able to
get
to the line but three point plays by Wright-Green & Creamer made it
63-54.
Alhaleem, who wasn’t hitting, made a layup at the buzzer to make it
65-58
after three.
Ramat Hen went into their press, forced some turnovers and Alhaleem hit
a
couple of quick shots. Moore’s 4th foul with over 9 minutes to play
didn’t
help Petah Tikva, and Ornit Shwartz’ first points made it just 67-65
with
8:30 to go. Ramat Hen managed to tie, but a three by Creamer helped
Petah
Tikva build a five point lead. Ramat Hen then remembered Pierson was
still
around, and she drew Moore’s 5th foul and tied the game at 78 with 44
seconds to go. Creamer with another clutch basket made it 80-78, but
Ramat
Hen tied it again leaving 8.5 seconds on the clock. Brown, with a
little
help from the refs, made sure the game went to overtime.
Without Moore Petah Tikva struggled on the boards and a three by
Shwartz
made it 86-82 with 3:30 to go. Alhaleem scored seven straight to give
Ramat
Hen their largest lead, 93-84, with about 2:40 to go. Petah Tikva then
held
the league’s top offensive team scoreless for 2 minutes and got back to
93-91 with 39 seconds to go. Kolodony split the defense for an easy
layup on
the other end, Petah Tikva missed their next shot and Alhaleem sealed
it
with a buzzer beating layup, 97-91.
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson - 24 pts (10/21 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 8 rebs, 4 ast
Tawona Alhaleem – 23 pts (9/18 FGs, 4/4 FTs), 5 rebs, 3 assists
Edwina Brown – 21 pts (6/9 FGs, 9/9 FTs), 9 rebs, 4 assists, 4 steals
Nomi Kolodny – 11 pts, 4 ast
Ornit Shwartz – 9 pts
For Petah Tikva:
Molly Creamer – 29 pts (5/7 2pt FGs, 5/11 3pt FGs, 4/4 FTs), 5 rebs, 3
assists
Chanel Wright-Green – 24 pts (7/18 FGs, 9/9 FTs), 4 rebs
Jackie Moore – 20 pts (8/17 FGs, 6/6 FTs), 11 rebs
Rivi Grinboym – 7 pts
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 78 – Bnei Yehuda 85
Bnei Yehuda got a huge win on the road, and inched closer to Ramat
Hasharon
in 4th place. Motzkin had no answers for Bnei Yehuda’s physical
frontcourt
and for DeTrina White in particular. Erin Thorn had a good all around
game
and Bnei Yehuda also got a big contribution off the bench.
For Bnei Yehuda:
DeTrina White 25 pts
Erin Thorn 15 pts
Leigh Aziz 14 pts
Hila Izhar
13
pts
For Motzkin:
Lynn Pride 21 pts
Laine Selwyn & Crystal Givens 14 pts each
Lena
Mustafina
11 pts
Elizur Ramla 72 – Ramat Hasharon 57
In contrast to the previous two meetings between the teams this year,
Ramat
Hasharon started out great and fought till the last minute against a
superior opponent. However Ramla’s suffocating defense along with Ramat
Hasharon’s short rotation led to Ramla’s 18th win of the season.
Ramat Hasharon went inside early and got easy points in the paint, led
by
Gunta Basko. Ramla called a timeout down 15-11 with 3:30 to go in the
quarter, came back with a zone defense and made a 9-0 run to lead 22-19
after one. The game remained close in the 2nd quarter, with Ramat
Hasharon
amazingly enjoying a small lead on the boards. But Ayana Walker hit 4
quick
points out of her 12 in the quarter to remind everyone Ramla does not
approve of single digit leads. Ramla opened a 38-29 lead but Tamar Maoz
with
five points stopped the bleeding and made it 42-36 at the half.
Ramat Hasharon kept struggling against the Ramla zone in the 2nd half
and
turned it over way too much. They scored just 8 points in the 3rd
quarter
while allowing 16. In the 4th quarter Ina Gourevitch and Nili Natho
helped
Ramla build its biggest lead, 63-46, but Ramat Hasharon didn’t fall
apart.
Gwen Jackson made some plays to make it 67-56 with three minutes to
play,
but Ramla wouldn’t let Ramat Hasharon get any closer.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 15 pts, 12 rebs, 5 steals
Ayana Walker – 14 pts, 9 rebs
Ina Gourevitch – 14 pts, 6 steals
Dragoslava Zakula & Nili Natho 8 pts each
Monika Veselovski – 7 pts (left game in 3rd quarter with sprained
ankle)
Liron Cohen – 6 pts
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gwen Jackson - 19 pts, 9 rebs
Tamar Maoz - 12 pts
Gunta Basko - 11 pts
Lidiya Varbanova – 9 pts, 6 rebs, 4 ast
Round 19’s MVP – DeTrina White
White was simply unstoppable under the baskets and led Bnei Yehuda with
25
points to a big win in Motzkin. White, who was recently signed by the
New
York Liberty, proves week after week that she’s one of the most
efficient
posts in the league.
Round 19’s First Team
Ina Gourevitch – No player in Ramla had a great game, so we went for
the
player who glued everything together. Gourevitch made timely shots on
her
way to 14 points and added six steals.
Molly Creamer – In her best game of the season Creamer scored 29 points
on
great shooting. 21 of her points were after halftime as she made a
bunch of
big baskets that helped Petah Tikva be one call away from a huge upset.
Edwina Brown – It wasn’t easy picking a player from Ramat Hen, but
Brown
played extremely well through out the game. She led her team with 9
rebounds, made 4 steals including two at crunch time, and scored 21
points
in an error-free showing.
DeTrina White – Bnei Yehuda’s rebounding machine abused Motzkin and did
whatever she wanted under both baskets.
Erin Thorn – Bnei Yehuda’s guard scored 15 points and fed the posts
with 9
assists in their big win in Motzkin.
Next Monday in the upper playoffs:
Ramat Hen @ Ramla
Motzkin @ Petah Tikva
Bnei Yehuda @ Ramat Hasharon
The Standings:
1. Elizur Ramla 18-1
2. Ramat Hen 15-4
3. Haifa/Motzkin 14-5
4. Ramat Hasharon 12-7
5. Bnei Yehuda 11-8
6. Petah Tikva 8-11
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7. Raanana 7-11
8. Ashdod 4-14
9. Jerusalem 4-14
10. Holon 0-18