Before we get to round 21, as usual we forgot to tell you guys about
the
Safsal Player Of The Month.
February’s Player Of The Month: Edwina Brown.
Ramat Hen was the only team in the league to go undefeated in February,
winning all five of their games. It was tough deciding which Hen to go
with,
but two specific stats made us go for Brown over Alhaleem the scoring
machine and lone post Pierson – Brown led her team with nearly 9
rebounds
per game, and made 69% of her shots for 19.5 points per game. Add 4.2
assists and 3.5 steals per game and you get the stat line of the most
versatile guard in the league.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 76 – Ramat Hasharon 74
Ramat Hen seemed to be in control leading by 12 early in the 4th, but
Aluma
Goren led Ramat Hasharon back and nailed a huge jumper in Brown’s face
with
19 seconds to go to give her team a 74-72 lead with 19 seconds to go.
Brown
tied it from the line at the other end, and Tamar Maoz was called for a
5
second violation trying to inbound with 7 seconds to play. Alhaleem
missed a
good shot from the baseline but Plenette Pierson got the rebound and
nailed
a short jumper at the buzzer to win it for her team.
Ramat Hen has two games left – vs. Motzkin and at Bnei Yehuda – and
they
need one more win to secure 2nd place.
Ramat Hen started out well and went up 10-4 in four minutes thanks to
Pierson mainly. Varbanova, who hardly missed in the quarter, scored 11
of
her 22 points to help Ramat Hasharon trail just 17-20 after 1.
The game remained close in the 2nd quarter, and a layup by Maoz gave
the
visitors their first lead at 26-25. Varbanova scored 5 straight to make
it
31-27 with five minutes to go till halftime. Both Varbanova and Gunta
Basko
picked up a 2nd foul and headed out, and Ramat Hen regained the lead.
In the
last minute of the 1st half we got a preview of what’s to come as
Pierson
beat the shot clock with a three and made a put back layup seconds
before
the halftime buzzer. Varbanova and Pierson scored 16 and 15 points
respectively on great shooting.
Varbanova started the 2nd quarter on the bench, and Ornit Shwartz
scored 5
straight to give Ramat Hen a 48-42 lead. Goren noticed the defense
wasn’t
giving her any respect and made a couple of shots to make it just
49-47, but
Alhaleem helped Ramat Hen finish the quarter up 59-51.
The refs wasted no time in the 4th and handed Basko her 4th foul within
seconds. Basko, who played just 20 minutes, was Ramat Hasharon’s
leading
rebounder and she was missed. Lena Fedulova and Alhaleem got Ramat
Hen’s
biggest lead at 63-51 with over 8 minutes to go. Bratzkova hit a three
pointer to wake Ramat Hasharon up a little, but Jackson’s 4th foul
quickly
followed. Pierson made one of two from the line to make it 67-58 with 7
minutes to play but it was far from over. Goren scored twice in a 6-0
Ramat
Hasharon run to cut it to 64-67. Brown, who had her worst game of the
season
by far, turned it over on the other end and Ramat Hen was starting to
crumble. Ramat Hen ignored Pierson for most of the 2nd half, despite
Jackson
and Varbanova’s foul trouble. Ramat Hasharon on the other end went
inside
twice as both bigs scored to tie it at 70 with 90 seconds to go. Goren
and
Jackson put Ramat Hasharon in a position to win but Maoz’s turnover
cost
them greatly and Pierson, who took only 4 shots in the 2nd half, bailed
her
teammates out with a big game winner.
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson – 22 pts (8/13 FGs), 10 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem – 16 pts (6/13 FGs, 4/5 FTs)
Edwina Brown – 13 pts (3/11 FGs, 7/8 FTs), 5 rebs, 6 TOs
Ornit Shwartz & Lena Pedulova 9 pts each
For Ramat Hasharon:
Lidiya Varbanova – 22 pts, 4 rebs
Gwen Jackson – 18 pts (8/13 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 5 rebs
Aluma Goren – 16 pts (7/11 FGs), 8 ast
Gunta Basko – 6 pts, 9 rebs
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 65 – Elizur Ramla 75
Motzkin has lost 2 in a row, but gave Ramla a serious fight. They led
22-21
after 1 and trailed just 34-31 at the half. Ramla led 56-52 after 3,
and
62-60 with four minutes to go. Motzkin had two chances to tie but
couldn’t,
and Ramla made a 13-5 run to finish the game.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall 21 pts
Ayana Walker & Ina Gourevitch 16 pts each
For Motzkin:
Lena Mustafina 17 pts
Lynn Pride 14 pts and 9 rebs
Crystal Givens &
Laine
Selwyn 9 pts each
Bnei Yehuda 69 – Hapoel Petah Tikva 76
By Lior Klinger
Even without the excellent DeTrina White (ill), Bnei Yehuda gave all
they
had and was close to beating the rolling Petah Tikva. The visitors
built a
12 point lead in the 2nd quarter but Bnei Yehuda fought back and
trailed
just 34-35 at the half.
Petah Tikva used two threes by Rivi Grinboym to open a 53-44 lead with
4:30
to go in the 3rd. Bnei Yehuda answered with an 11-4 run to close the
quarter
and trailed just 55-57 after 3.
Petah Tikva started the 4th well with threes by Grinboym and Molly
Creamer,
and took a 65-59 lead with 6:20 to play. Bnei Yehuda came back from a
timeout with aggressive defense and Hila Izhar hit a big three to tie
it at
65. Chanel Wright-Green ended her team’s drought, and on the other end
Leigh
Aziz took advantage of Jackie Moore’s 4 fouls to score two more.
Wright-Green gave the visitors a 71-69 lead with 90 seconds to play.
Erin
Thorn tried to take over the game for Bnei Yehuda but forced some shots
over
Creamer and missed. Bnei Yehuda’s offensive rebounding gave them extra
shots, but Thorn rimmed out a three. Creamer on the other end hit a big
three with 42 seconds to play, and Grinboym with a great pass found
Creamer
for an easy layup that iced the game.
For Petah Tikva:
Chanel Wright-Green – 22 pts, 12 rebs
Rivi Grinboym – 20 pts, 6 ast
Molly Creamer – 18 pts, 6 rebs
Jackie Moore – 14 pts
For Bnei Yehuda:
Leigh Aziz – 26 pts, 10 rebs
Erin Thorn – 14 pts, 3 ast
Hila Izhar – 13 pts
Round 21’s MVP – Plenette Pierson
Pierson was unstoppable in the first half with 15 points on 77%
shooting,
but her teammates stopped giving her the ball in the 2nd half. Pierson
got
only 4 shots in the 2nd half but didn’t get frustrated, kept going hard
to
the boards and finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Pierson sealed
off a
great game with a buzzer beating jumper that saved the game for Ramat
Hen.
Round 21's First Team
Rivi Grinboym – Scored 20 points and dished six assists, including a
critical one for the nail-in-the-coffin layup.
Aluma Goren – 16 points, 63% shooting, 8 assists and a big basket with
19
seconds to go to put Ramat Hashaon up 74-72. Add in her defense that
frustrated Brown into 6 turnovers and you see why the final score in
Ramat
Hen wasn’t going to effect this pick.
Chanel Wright-Green – Yes, DeTrina White didn’t play but like Aziz,
Wright-Green was pretty much alone in the battle on the boards. She
finished
with 22 pts and 12 rebounds in Petath Tikva’s 2nd straight win.
Plenette Pierson – Played great and won the game.
Amber Hall – Another day in the office for the double double queen
helped
Ramla pull off a hard fought win in Motzkin for their 20th victory.
Round 22 in the upper playoffs:
Motzkin @ Ramat Hen – On Sunday
On Monday:
Petah Tikva @ Ramat Hasharon
Ramla @ Bnei Yehuda
The Standings:
1. Ramla 20-1
2. Ramat Hen 16-5
3. Motzkin 14-7
4. Ramat Hasharon 13-8
5. Bnei Yehuda 11-10
6. Petah Tikva 10-11
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7. Raanana 8-11
8. Ashdod 5-14
9. Jerusalem 4-15
10. Holon 0-19