The Israeli cup semis were held last night. In the first game, Ramla
played
Ashdod and advanced easily. Ramla made their 9th final, and hope this
time
they’ll actually win the cup. They had to wait a long time to find out
who
they’ll play.
The 2nd game between Ramat Hen and Motzkin turned out to be a real
classic.
It had so many big plays, but none bigger than Laine Selwyn’s three
which
forced the 2nd overtime.
Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 87 - Maccabi Ramat Hen 84 (2 OTs)
Haifa/Motzkin got an unbelievable win in what was one of the most
dramatic
and exciting games of all times in our league. Motzkin brought a few
busses
filled with loud fans, started out great and dominated on the boards,
but
Ramat Hen knew how to come back at the end of each of the first three
quarters. Ramat Hen outscored Motzkin 20-2 in six minutes - at the
final 2
minutes of each of the first three quarters. But Motzkin was the team
to
step up at crunch time, made all the big plays and forced both
overtimes.
Lynn Pride, who was absolutely incredible, hit two free throws to force
the
first OT, 71-71. Ramat Hen had the game in the bag after the refs
called a
weird flagrant foul that sent Tawona Alhaleem to the line with 10
seconds to
go. She made one of two, and Edwina Brown went to inbound with her team
up
80-77. Her pass was off, Laine Selwyn chased it down, ran to the 3
point
line, stopped on a dime and hit an amazing three to tie the game. Ramat
Hen
got another chance but missed and sent the game to OT #2. In the 2nd OT
Motzkin managed to squeeze out a huge victory.
Motzkin coach Adan Inbar switched up the match ups on defense and put
Crystal Givens on Brown and Selwyn on Alhaleem. It worked great and
Motzkin
raced to a 13-2 lead after 6 minutes. Ramat Hen calmed down and got the
ball
to Alhaleem who scored 7 in the quarter. Ramat Hen scored 4 quick
points at
the end to cut it to 21-15 after 1.
Ramat Hen started finally going inside to Pierson in the 2nd quarter,
and
she scored 11 points. Brown hit 2 nice jumpers and Alhaleem cut it to
29-27
with 5 minutes to go in the half. Pride buried a great fade away and
added a
block on the other end, and the momentum swung back Motzkin's way.
Selwyn
hit a three with 2 minutes to play in the half to put her team up
39-31, but
Ramat Hen again used Motzkin's mistakes to make an 8-2 run till
halftime and
cut the lead to just 41-39.
Pierson and Givens picked up their 3rd foul early on, and both teams
went
cold. Alhaleem hit a big three to give Ramat Hen their first lead at
46-44,
with 5:40 to go in the quarter. Motzkin turned it over left and right,
but
was getting to the line and staying close. Selwyn hit a big three to
give
Motzkin a 51-46 lead, Pierson picked up her 4th and left for the bench,
but
Motzkin refused to go inside against Ramat Hen's tiny lineup. Ramat Hen
made
an 8-0 to close the quarter and led 54-51 after 3.
The 4th quarter was tight and nerve wrecking throughout. No team could
get a
lead larger than 4. With 4:30 to play, Inbar took out Selwyn and Ramat
Hen
made a 5-0 run to close to 64-66. Pierson fouled out with 2:23 to play
and
refused to believe it, but Shira Haelyon from the line made it 71-67
Ramat
Hen with 1:36 to play - their biggest lead of the night. Lena Mustafina
finished a fast break with a big layup, Ornit Shwartz missed on the
other
end and fouled Pride who got the critical rebound with 24 seconds left.
Pride calmly sank both free throws to tie it at 71, Shwartz missed
again and
Nomi Kolodny's put back fell just short. Overtime.
Givens was called for a questionable 5th foul 42 seconds into the extra
period, and had to be pushed to the bench by Pride. Brown was making
tough
shots, but Ramat Hen kept sending Motzkin to the line, which kept them
in
it. Shwartz fouled out and sent Selwyn to the line with the game tied
at 75
with under 2 minutes to play, but she missed twice. Alhaleem and Brown
hit
their free throws and Ramat Hen took a 79-75 lead with 24 seconds to
play.
Over? far from it. Pride hit 2 FTs, but then came the dumb flagrant
foul
call with 10 seconds to go. Alhaleem hit one of 2, 80-77. Over? far
from it.
Selwyn made an unbelievable play to steal the ball and burry the big
time
clutch three. On to the 2nd Overtime.
Motzkin scored the first 4 points in OT, but went 2 for 6 at the FT
line in
the first couple of minutes. Ramat Hen's first basket was a put back by
Alhaleem with 1:45 to play, and Brown followed it scoring off a drive
to the
paint and the lead was just 85-84. Pride, who scored 5 points in the
2nd OT,
was the exception for Motzkin as she hit two more clutch free throws to
make
it 87-84 with 40 seconds to go. Ramat Hen had 2 more chances but
Haeyon's
three was blocked, Brown's rolled out, and Motzkin began celebrating.
They
have just 24 hours to calm down and start thinking about Ramla.
For Motzkin:
Lynn Pride - 33 points (10/22 FGs, 13/15 FTs), 14 rebs, 4 blocks
Laine Selwyn - 26 pts (3/8 2pt FGs, 3/6 3pt FGs, 11/17 FTs), 14 rebs (7
offensives!), 4 ast, 3 steals
Lena Mustafina - 14 pts, 7 rebs
Crystal Givens - 13 pts, 8 rebs
For Ramat Hen:
Tawona Alhaleem - 29 pts (10/26 FGs, 7/9 FTs), 8 rebs
Edwina Brown - 26 pts (9/20 FGs, 8/8 FTs), 13 rebs (7 offensives!), 4
ast, 4
steals
Plenette Pierson - 13 pts (4/10 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 7 rebs
Nomi Kolodny - 6 pts, 3 rebs
Lena Fedulova - 5 pts
Elizur Ramla 84 - Maccabi Ashdod 64
Ramla expectedly dominated under the baskets and had little trouble
securing
its place in the finals. Amber Hall needed about 14 minutes to post her
usual double double and Ayana Walker finished with 23 points and 4
blocks.
Ramla led from the opening tip as Leane Williams was the only one
hitting
for Ashdod. Ramla led 26-16 after 1, with Williams scoring 10 points.
Kenya
Larkin scored 4 to cut it to 26-19 but Ramla answered with an 11-0 run
to
take a 50-29 lead at the half. They led 68-46 after three. Ashdod won
the
second half but got no closer than 16 the rest of the way.
For Ramla:
Ayana Walker - 23 pts, 4 blocks, 4 steals
Ina Gourevitch - 18 pts, 8 rebs
Amber Hall - 16 pts, 22 rebs, 5 steals
Monika Veselovski - 11 pts, 4 ast
Draguslava Zakula - 9 pts, 4 ast
Nili Natho - 6 pts
For Ashdod:
Kenya Larkin - 21 pts, 7 rebs, 3 ast
Leana Williams - 18 pts, 3 steals, 3 ast
Jo Ruth Woods - 11 pts, 9 rebs
Vika Rudovski - 8 pts