March Player Of The Month – Ayana Walker
Ayana Walker led Ramla to an historic Israeli Cup with 23 points in the
semi
finals and 29 points in the double overtime win over Haifa/Motzkin.
Walker
also put up three double-doubles in the 3 first games of Ramla’s semi
final
series vs. Ramat Hasharon.
Game 4: Ramat Hasharon 66 – Elizur Ramla 58
They said Ramla would cruise to the championship, that nobody can stop
them
with Amber Hall, that Ramat Hasharon started thinking about next season
in
February. But that’s why they play the games. Ramat Hasharon found
themselves down 2-1 in a series for the third straight time and forced
game
5 for the 3rd straight time. After a first half that looked like all
the
other first halves in the games Ramla blew Ramat Hasharon out, Ramat
Hasharon came back determined not to let the season end. They played
tough
defense, put up a huge fight on the boards, and enjoyed an amazing
second
half by Gwen Jackson to get the critical victory.
Ramla really didn’t want to relive the events of last year, where in
the
same exact situation they lost game 4 in Ramat Hasharon and ended up
losing
game 5 at home. But you can’t expect to win scoring 58 points in a
game.
Amber Hall & Ayana Walker, the best post due in the league, combined
for
just 8 points in the 2nd half while Ina Gourevitch and Monika
Veselovski
finished a combined 5 for 19 from the field.
Ramat Hasharon started out slow and couldn’t buy a basket. Walker put
back
Hall’s free throw to make it 8-3 about 3:30 into the game. Ramat
Hasharon
woke up and scored 6 straight to take the lead. Gwen Jackson and Lidiya
Varbanova scored 4 points each to help Ramat Hasharon to a 17-14 lead
after
1.
Ramla’s zone defense caused Ramat Hasharon a few turnovers at the end
of the
1st, and continued to disrupt their offense in the 2nd. Without
injured
Natash Bratzkova Ramat Hasharon doesn’t have a natural shooter to break
open
the zone, and they got stuck. Amber Hall saved countless loose balls,
grabbed 8 rebounds and scored 10 points in the 1st half and Ramla
regained
the lead. Nili Natho and Liron Cohen increased the lead to 9, and Ramla
led
32-25 at the half. Ramat Hasharon managed just 8 points in the quarter,
but
could take comfort in the fact they were even with Ramla in the
rebounds
department. When you play Ramla, rebounds are as important as points.
Aluma Goren who didn’t have a good game for the first time in the
series
started the 2nd half with a basket and an assist to Gunta Basko who
made a 3
point play to make it just 33-30. Ramat Hasharon held Ramla without a
field
goal for a few minutes but the gap still grew to 39-31 after a rare
Gourevitch basket. Goren’s 3rd foul sent Cohen to the line and the lead
grew
to 44-36 with 3:30 to go in the quarter. It looked as if Ramla was
about to
break the game open, but they turned it over 3 straight times. Ramat
Hasharon finally managed to get the ball inside and cut the lead to
just
47-42 after 3.
Ramat Hasharon continued to play excellent defense in the 4th quarter.
Jackson, who scored 21 points on 70% shooting in the 2nd half, didn’t
back
down from Hall and scored 4 points in a run that gave Ramat Hasharon
the
lead back for the first time since early in the 2nd quarter, 48-47 with
8
minutes to go. Zakula and Cohen answered to put Ramla up 53-51, but
Basko
hit a huge three - Ramat Hasharon’s only 3 of the game – to give her
team
the lead for good with 4:45 to go.
Ramla drew 3 fouls and got a couple of offensive rebounds in their next
possession, but had no points to show for it. Jackson on the other end
took
it to Hall and made a 3 point play that raised half of the fans to
their
feet and caused the other half to grab their heads. The lead was 57-53
with
3:30 to go. Ramla wasn’t going inside enough, struggled to score and
started
accepting the painful loss. Ramat Hasharon made 5 free throws that made
it
62-54 with a little over a minute to go and began celebrating their
first
win over Amber Hall & Ramla this season.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Gwen Jackson – 27 pts (9/14 FGs, 9/10 FTs), 7 rebs
Lidiya Varbanova – 15 pts, 6 rebs
Gunta Basko – 12 pts, 8 rebs
Aluma Goren – 7 pts (1/10 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 8 ast, 3 steals
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 13 pts, 13 rebs
Ayana Walker – 10 pts, 9 rebs
Monika Veselovski – 10 pts (3/8 FGs, 3/4 FTs)
Ina Gourevitch – 8 pts (2/11 FGs, 4/7 FTs), 3 steals
Liron Cohen – 6 pts