Maccabi Ramat Hen 66 – Elizur Ramla 74
Ramla pretty much secured the championship with an impressive road win
over
Ramat Hen in the 2nd game of the best of 5 series. Ramla played
remarkable
defense, which made the league’s best offense look very bad, and
dominated
the boards in the 2nd half. Plenette Pierson finally snapped the Ramla
curse
and had a great game against Hall & Walker but she didn’t have much
help.
Edwina Brown didn’t rule the way she did in game 1, and Ramat Hen
struggled
from 3pt land for the first time in the playoffs.
No team was able to build a lead early on, but Ramat Hen closed the
quarter
with a 5-0 run to lead 20-14 after 1. Pierson, who was aggressive right
from
tip off and took it to Ramla’s posts, started the 2nd quarter on the
bench
with two fouls but it was Ayana Walker who picked up her 3rd foul, 1
minute
into the quarter. Ramla still scored 7 straight to regain the lead.
Ramat
Hen was stuck, as Ramla kept switching defenses. Ornit Shwartz scored
her
team’s first basket with 6:30 left in the half, and Pierson scored 5 in
a
row to make it 27-21. Ramla immediately closed the gap and trailed just
31-28 at the break.
Monika Veselovski picked up her 4th foul three minutes into the 3rd,
but
Ramla led 37-33. Edwina Brown drew Walker’s 4th on an ‘And 1’ which
helped
Ramat Hen go up 44-39, with 3:30 to go in the quarter. With Tal Salz
and
Nili Natho in place of Walker and Veselovski, Ramla closed the quarter
with
an 11-2 run to lead 50-46 after 3. Eight of the points where courtesy
of
Dragoslava Zakula, she finished with a season high of 12 points.
Ramla kept the same group on the floor at the start of the 4th, and
Ramat
Hen didn’t take advantage. Walker and Veselovski returned 2 minutes
later
with their team up 54-49. Pierson and Brown cut it to 54-53 but
Veselovski
hit a 3 to quiet the fans. Ramla controlled the offensive glass and
Walker,
who had just 2 points in the first half, scored to make it 61-53 with 5
minutes to go.
It was clear that Ramat Hen had to make a move at this point if they
wanted
to win, but they had too many bad decisions. Pierson had a 3pt play to
cut
it to 63-58 with 3 minutes to go but Walker scored 4 straight that
sealed
the deal. Ramat Hen didn’t have the 3pt shooting to get back in it this
time. The game however was won on the boards, as Ramla held a +16 edge
in
the 2nd half after getting just one more rebound than Ramat Hen in the
1st
half.
For Ramla:
Amber Hall – 16 pts ((5/11 FGs, 6/8 FTs), 18 rebs, 6 assists
Ayana Walker – 15 pts (7/11 FGs, 1/4 FTs), 11 rebs
Monika Veselovski – 15 pts (6/15 FGs)
Dragoslava Zakula – 12 pts (5/12 FGs), 5 rebs
Ina Gourevitch – 11 pts (4/11 FGs), 8 rebs
For Ramat Hen:
Plenette Pierson – 23 pts (9/19 FGs, 5/6 FTs), 9 rebs
Tawona Alhaleem – 17 pts (6/16 FGs, 5/9 FTs), 7 rebs
Edwina Brown – 13 pts (4/14 FGs, 5/7 FTs), 7 rebs, 6 assists
Ornit Shwartz – 7 pts (3/8 FGs)