Motzkin’s bus got stuck in traffic and arrived 40 minutes late, but the
team
didn’t show up at all. Ramat Hen rolled to an easy 30 point win. Ramla
struggled without the injured Amber Hall but escaped with a 63-61 win
over
Ramat Hasharon in the first game on the best-of-5 semi finals series.
Elizur Ramla 63 – Ramat Hasharon 61
Ramla got some very bad news this weekend, Amber Hall injured her wrist
in
practice and there’s a chance she may have broken it. The extent of the
injury is still unclear but it made Hall miss game 1 and right now it
doesn’t seem that she’ll be able to play in game 2.
With Hall out, Ramat Hasharon knew the series just became wide open.
The
game went down to the wire, and Ramla was able to get a 63-61 lead with
17
seconds left. Ramat Hasharon nearly turned it over on their last
possession,
a loose ball found it’s way to Lidiya Varbanova but her shot was
blocked by
Luda Rom with 2 seconds on the clock.
Ramat Hasharon led 14-13 after 1, but Ramla made a 19-2 run in the 2nd
to
lead 32-16, with about 3 minutes before halftime. Ramat Hasharon closed
the
quarter with an 8-2 run and trailed 34-24 at the break.
Ramat Hasharon cut it to 38-32, but Liron Cohen made it a 10-point game
again with two layups. Ramat Hasharon kept fighting on the boards and
Tamar
Maoz hit a 3 to cut it to 45-44 with under 2 minutes to play in the
3rd.
Ayana Walker scored Ramla’s last 4 points and they lead 49-46 after 3.
Luda Rom started in place of Liron Cohen who was having a great game,
and
picked up 2 fouls in less than a minute. Cohen came back shortly and
Walker
with a typical jumper put Ramla on the board nearly 3 minutes into the
4th.
Ramat Hasharon kept hanging around and finally got the lead, courtesy
of
Varbanova, but it didn’t last long. A three by Cohen gave Ramla the
lead for
good, 58-55, with 3:36 left. Both teams were far from brilliant the
rest of
the way. Ramat Hasharon missed 4 clutch free throws, Ramla missed 3 but
the
score was tied at 61 with 41 seconds to go. Ramla missed but Veselovski
got
the offensive rebound and Ramat Hasharon was called for the foul. She
made
both and Rom made sure Ramla won’t need to play yet another overtime
period.
For Ramla:
Ayana Walker – 21 pts (7/14 FGs, 7/10 FTs), 13 rebs
Liron Cohen – 19 pts (8/12 FGs, 0/2 FTs), 4 assists
Monika Veselovski – 12 pts (3/15 FGs, 6/6 FTs), 5 rebs
Ina Gourevitch – 9 pts, 9 rebs
For Ramat Hasharon:
Aluma Goren - 14 pts (6/12 FGs, 1/2 FTs), 3 assists
Natasha Baratskova – 11 pts (4/10 FGs)
Gwen Jackson – 11 pts (4/10 FGs, 3/6 FTs), 9 rebs
Lidiya Varbanova – 10 pts (4/10 FGs), 6 rebs
Gunta Basko – 3 pts (0/8 FGs, 3/4 FTs), 7 rebs
Maccabi Ramat Hen 87 – Hapoel Haifa/Motzkin 57
Motzkin had a complete and total letdown after last week’s cup
excitement,
and Ramat Hen showed no mercy.
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson – 33 pts
Edwina Brown – 17 pts, 15 rebs
Ornit Shwartz – 15 pts
Tawona Alhaleem – 10 pts
For Motzkin:
Crystal Givens 16 pts
Laine Selwyn 13 pts
Lynn Pride 9 pts