Ramat Hen secured 2nd place finish and home court advantage in the semi
finals with a win over Haifa/Motzkin. Motzkin’s loss set up a do or die
game
between them and Ramat Hasharon this Thursday. The winner will finish
3rd
and face Ramat Hen in the semis, the loser will finish 4th and become
Ramla-meat. In two other meaningless games, Ramat Hasharon beat Petah
Tikva
and Ramla beat Bnei Yehuda.
Maccabi Ramat Hen 84 – Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 71
Ramat Hen needed a W to officially clinch 2nd place, Motzkin wanted to
get
its first win in the 3rd round. Motzkin started out hot but Ramat Hen
took
over from there using great team play. The biggest lead was 22, but
Lynn
Pride’s awesome game along with a lot of points from the line helped
Motzkin
trim the gap.
Motzkin shot nearly perfect from the field on their way to a 12-8 lead,
5
minutes into the game. Eight of those points were thanks to Pride. A
three
by Ornit Shwartz put Ramat Hen up 13-12, and Motzkin cooled off.
Motzkin
finished the quarter with 17 points and held the best offensive team in
the
league on just 15. Ramat Hen wasn’t getting the shots they’re used to.
Motzkin continued making Ramat Hen’s life miserable on the defensive
end,
went up 26-22 with 4 minutes left in the half but then hit the wall.
They
couldn’t buy a three, and other than Pride working some magic or Givens
and
Selwyn getting to the line, nothing worked. Alhaleem with 4 points and
an
assist made it 32-26 but Motzkin got a basket in between turnovers to
trail
just 34-29 at the break.
In the 3rd Ramat Hen started doing what they do best – run. Pride kept
Motzkin in it with 6 points to start the quarter, but 5 straight points
by
Edwina Brown made it an 8 point game. Motzkin’s D fell apart, even 1
second
on the shot clock was enough for Ramat Hen to get a bucket and go up
55-44
with under 3 to go in the 3rd. Givens and Selwyn scored from the line
to
help cut it to 57-50 after 3.
Ramat Hen hit 3 threes to start the 4th, made it 68-52 and it looked
over.
Pierson, Alhaleem and Brown got to watch the closing minutes from the
bench
as Shira Haelyon took care of business with 4 threes in the quarter.
Motzkin
did some damage control with 7 points in the last minute to make it
respectable.
For Ramat Hen:
Edwina Brown – 21 pts, 8 assists, 7 rebs
Shira Haelyon – 18 pts (5 threes)
Tawona Alhaleem – 17 pts, 9 rebs, 5 assists
Plenette Pierson – 12 pts
For Haifa/Motzkin:
Lynn Pride – 22 pts (9/15 FGs), 9 rebs, 3 assists, 2 steals
Crystal Givens – 22 pts (6/13 FGs, 10/11 FTs), 6 rebs
Laine Selwyn – 17 pts (5/12 FGs, 6/6 FTs)
Lena Mustafina 3 pts
Ramat Hasharon 85 – Petah Tikva 74
The game didn’t mean anything for either team in the standings, but was
very
competitive. Ramat Hasharon probably wanted a moral boost going into
Thursday’s game, and Petah Tikva wanted to win to help their record
reflect
the way they’ve been playing lately.
Petah Tikva started great with Chanel Wright-Green on fire but Ramat
Hasharon gained control from the 11th minute. Petah Tikva led by 13 a
minute
into the 2nd quarter, but Ramat Hasharon made an 18-6 run to get back
in a
big way. Gwen Jackson helped the locals open a lead and Gunta Basko
made
sure they hold on to it until the end.
Rivi Grinboym and Wright-Green stroked 2 threes to start the game well
for
Petah Tikva. Molly Creamer with a dish to Wright-Green and a three of
her
own increased the lead to 14-6 with 5 minutes left in the quarter, but
Ramat
Hasharon cut it to 16-12. Jackie Moore and Wright-Green scored 20 of
Petah
Tikva’s points in the 1st as they led 26-18 after 1. Wright-Green had
11
points on prefect shooting from all ranges.
Creamer and Wright-Green made it 31-18 within less than a minute, but
then
Petah Tikva came to a halt. Ramat Hasharon picked up their interior D,
and
Gwen Jackson started doing what Petah Tikva did to her team in the 1st.
Aluma Goren with 2 steals set her team up with 4 easy points and they
led
36-35. Moore gave Petah Tikva the lead back with 2 free throws but the
momentum was all Ramat Hasharon. Jackson led all scorers with 16 points
at
the half, Wright-Green had 15 and has yet to miss but added just 5
points in
the 2nd half.
Creamer and Taly Noy with 2 threes put Petah Tikva up 43-38 in the 3rd,
but
that didn’t last long. Ramat Hasharon was making it hard on Petah Tikva
to
pass to Wright-Green, Basko focused on Creamer and Moore couldn’t do it
alone. Goren kept feeding the posts and Ramat Hasharon looked like they
were
in a layup drill, leading 61-55 after 3.
A three by Basko made it 68-57 early in the 4th, but Moore with a
traditional 3-pt play cut it to just 6 with seven minutes to go. Basko
killed all comeback hopes with 6 points to make it 74-65 with 4:20
left, and
Petah Tikva couldn’t get it under 7 the rest of the way.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gwen Jackson – 28 pts (11/15 FGs, 6/6 FTs), 8 rebs
Lidiya Varbanova – 24 pts (10/14 FGs)
Gunta Basko – 21 pts (7/9 FGs, 5/7 FTs)
Tamar Maoz – 6 pts, 7 assists
Aluma Goren – 4 pts, 9 assists
For Petah Tikva:
Jackie Moore – 25 pts (10/15 FGs, 5/5 FTs), 6 rebs, 6 assists
Chanel Wright-Green – 20 pts, 4 steals
Molly Creamer 18 pts (3/7 2pt FGs, 4/7 3pt FGs)
Taly Noy – 6 pts
Rivi Grinboym – 5 pts
Elizur Ramla 84 – Bnei Yehuda 63
Ramla again led by a small margin at the half, 36-31, but broke away in
the
2nd half to win by 19.
For Ramla:
Monika Veselovski 19 pts
Ayana Walker 14 pts
Amber Hall 13
pts
For Bnei Yehuda:
Erin Thorn 21 pts
DeTrina White 12 pts
In the 7-10 games:
Maccabi Raanana 77 – Maccabi Ashdod 60
For Raanana:
Michelle Smith 20 pts
Lili Latinovic 17 pts
For Ashdod:
Kenya Larkin 14 pts
Chen Shtain 13 pts
Jerusalem got a technical victory over Holon, who was ordered to cease
operations due to an unpaid debt. They say they’ll be back though…
Round 22’s MVP: Edwina Brown
Brown may not be a natural point guard, but that doesn’t stop her from
being
the best PG in the league. In her interesting match up vs. Laine
Selwyn,
Brown came out on top as she finished with 21 points, 8 assists & 7
rebounds
and led her team to victory.
Round 22’s First Team:
Shira Haelyon – Started in place of the ill Ina Boutenko and scored 18
points including 5 threes in her best game of the season.
Edwina Brown – Flirted with a triple double, finishing with 21 pts, 8
assists and 7 boards.
Tawona Alhaleem – We’re used to seeing her light up a scoreboard, but
vs.
Motzkin Alhaleem pulled down 9 rebounds and dished out 5 assists to go
along
with 17 points in Ramat Hen’s win.
Gunta Basko – Basko needed just 9 shots to get 21 points, and scored
nearly
half of them in 4th.
Gwen Jackson – Had her 2nd best scoring performance of the season with
28
points and 8 rebounds.
Thursday in the upper playoffs:
Ramat Hasharon @ Motzkin
Ramat Hen @ Bnei Yehuda
Ramla @ Petah Tikva
The Standings:
1 Elizur Ramla 21-1
2. Maccabi Ramat Hen 17-5
3. Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 14-8
4. Ramat Hasharon 14-8
5. Bnei Yehuda 11-11
6. Hapoel Petah Tikva 10-12
----------------------------
7. Maccabi Raanana 9-11
8. Maccabi Ashdod 5-15
9. ASA Jerusalem 5-15
10. Elizur Holon 0-20