Elizur Ramla 82 – Maccabi Ramat Hen 77
Ramla & Ramat Hen kicked off the finals with a fun game that makes you
wish
for four more like it. Ramat Hen led by 11 in the 2nd quarter and was
in the
game until the last second. Despite the painful loss Ramat Hen has
reasons
to feel encouraged. They managed to give Ramla an even fight on the
boards,
they forced their fast tempo on the game and were close to an upset
even
with the league’s leading scorer – Tawona Alhaleem – on a slow night.
Ramla
on the other end enjoyed a great game from Monika Veselovski who scored
24
points on very good shooting and got the big win to go up 1-0 in the
best-of-five finals.
Both teams traded baskets early on, which worked in Ramat Hen’s favor.
Edwina Brown was simply awesome, Ornit Shwartz hit her threes and Ramat
Hen
went up 19-13 with 3 minutes to go in the first quarter. Brown scored 5
more
points to give her team a 24-17 lead after 1.
Shwartz buried 2 more threes to help Ramat Hen build a 31-20 lead with
8
minutes till halftime, and then Amber Hall decided she’s seen enough.
Hall
scored 7 straight to get Ramla right back in it. Brown kept Ramat Hen
ahead
with steals and points, but Liron Cohen hit 2 threes to complete a 17-4
run
that gave Ramla the lead back, 37-35. Ramat Hen struggled against the
zone
and suffered two shot clock violations, but Nomi Kolodny with a 3 and
Alhaleem with a drive gave the visitors a 40-38 lead at the half.
Ramat Hen got off to a good start in 3rd quarter and Plenette Pierson,
who
fought hard but had trouble finishing, gave them a 45-39 lead. Shwartz
nailed yet another 3 to make it 50-46 and Tal Natan called a timeout
with
about five minutes to go in the 3rd. Ramla tightened up their D and
Walker
hit two shots to give them a 54-52 lead. Cohen hit a three to make it a
5
point lead, but Shwartz hit her 5th three at the other end. Shwartz
committed a silly foul, her 4th, with 36 seconds to go and Veselovski
hit a
three to make it 60-57. Kolodny hit a 3/4 court three at the buzzer but
the
refs, after a few minutes of discussing the play without using replay,
waived it off.
Brown hit a three to cut the lead to 64-62 with 6:40 to play, and Eli
Rabi
put Shwartz back in for Alhaleem who also had 4 fouls. It took less
than 30
seconds for Shwartz to pick up her 5th on a bad call following a
coincidental collision, and Ramat Hen lost its hottest outside shooter.
Ramla was getting to the rim way too easily and Hall gave them their
biggest
lead of the game at 73-65 with 3:15 to go. Pierson went to the hole on
the
other end and drew just her 2nd foul of the night. It was Ayana
Walker’s 5th
and Pierson hit both foul shots. Alhaleem with an ‘And 1’ made it just
79-74
with 54 seconds to go. Kolodny fouled Zakula, she missed twice, but
Ramla
got to the ball first. Alhaleem fouled out and sent Cohen to the line,
and
she made both. Kolodny hit a big three to make it just 80-77 with 23
seconds
to go. Ramat Hen tried for 10 seconds to get a steal and ended up
fouling.
Veselovski hit both free throws to secure her team the tough win.
For Ramla:
Monika Veselovski – 24 pts (9/13 FGs, 4/6 FTs), 5 rebs, 5 TOs
Amber Hall – 19 pts (8/12 FGs), 19 rebs, 4 blocks, 3 ast
Ayana Walker – 14 pts (6/16 FGs, 2/4 FTs), 8 rebs
Ina Gourevitch – 10 pts (4/11 FGs, 2/4 FTs), 4 rebs, 4 ast, 3 steals
Liron Cohen – 10 pts, 3 ast
For Ramat Hen:
Edwina Brown – 20 pts (9/17 FGs, 1/1 FTs), 7 rebs, 6 steals, 5 ast
Ornit Shwartz – 17 pts (1/2 2pt FGs, 5/7 3pt FGs), 3 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem – 14 pts (4/11 FGs, 5/7 FTs), 7 rebs, 3 ast
Plenette Pierson – 12 pts (5/19 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 10 rebs, 4 TOs
Nomi Kolodny – 8 pts, 3 ast
Lena Pedulova – 6 pts, 5 rebs
Game 2 is on the 13th of April.