Ramla in a weak performance showed a lot of heart by coming back from double digit deficits time after time but in the 4th quarter Ramat Hasharon finally broke away to an 82-65 win, behind 25 points from Jia Perkins.
Electra Ramat Hasharon 82 - Ramla 65
Boxscore
"We did what we're supposed to do, we won at home it's not that big of a deal. Next game its 0-0" said Jia Perkins at the end. She finished with 25 points in a terrific performance, and set the tone for Ramat Hasharon from the start. "We came out aggressive and got the lead early, we tried to keep it but a lead over Ramla doesn’t mean anything" she continued. As far as the personal show she put on, Perkins didn’t really want to talk about it. "We're a team, the name on the back of the jersey doesn’t matter, only the name on the front. Today it was me, next game it'll be Ebony or Nomi or T.T, it doesn’t matter. We need to come aggressive and try to steal game 2", she finished.
Ramla brought the fighting sprit and heart we saw from them in the semis, but the actual basketball was somehow left behind. Ramat Hasharon went on a 19-0 run from the end of the 1st quarter to the middle of the 2nd, but Ramla came back from that too. Ramat Hasharon had to rebuild its double digits lead five times before Ramla finally gave up.
So does the final deficit define the different levels of these two squads? Depends who you ask. "Only one team showed up today, this was Ramat Hasharon's game from the start" said Eli Rabi. "We were very soft on both ends, we pulled some tricks to get back in the game but it lasted for 30 something minutes. Ramat Hasharon deserved this win, we have a lot of work to do for the next game. Too many players didn't show up today", he added. Headlining the no-shows list was Sheri Sam, with 6 points on 3 for 16 from the field. Tamara Moore settled for 11 points, only Lena Ogorodnikova and Katia Levitzky with 15 points apiece delivered tonight for the defending champs.
On the other side, Orna Ostfeld wasn't too excited over the 17-point gap. "Ramla is a very stubborn team with excellent players, our advantage is our depth and our youth. Ramla played very aggressive and it was tough to run the game, especially under the pressure that we're under as far as being the favorites and not having won a title for five years", said Ostfeld. "It's not easy to play that way but as soon as our players loosened up and Ramla got into some foul trouble, it got much harder for them. Jia was excellent today and we also got a big lift from the bench. They're going to come out like crazy in game 2, we really hope to win".
Ramla started out well with 5 points by Ogorodnikova to lead 7-2. Perkins with 6 points quickly tied the game, but Katia Levitzky helped Ramla go up 15-9, 4 minutes left in the 1st. Ramla would not score again until the 7-minute mark of the 2nd quarter. Ramat Hasharon ended the 1st with an 11-0 run to lead 20-15, with Perkins scoring 10. The run got to 19-0 and Ramat Hasharon led 28-15 before Ramla woke up and scored 6 straight to cut it to 21-28. Ramla held Perkins to 4 points in the quarter and got within 29-34 with 3 minutes left in the half. Both teams couldn’t get anything right in the remaining 3 minutes, Ramat Hasharon led 35-30 at the half.
Ramat Hasharon got the lead back to 10 after 2:30 minutes in the 3rd, as Liad Suez Karni scored 4. Ramla responded with an ally-hoop play from Moore to Ogorodnikova and a 3-pt play by Levitzky, but got stuck again and fell behind by double digits for the 3rd time, 40-50 as Troina started to get hot for the locals. Ramla just looked awful, didn’t isolate Sam or Moore down low and even missed fastbreaks, not to mention 3s. Ramat Hasharon got its biggest lead at 59-44, but Ramla with some damage control trailed 49-61 after 3.
Moore hit a 3 to spark an 8-0 Ramla run to cut it to 57-61 after 3 minutes. Suez Karni ended a 4-minute drought for Ramat Hasharon with a free throw, but Moore with another ally-hoop pass to Ogorodnikova cut it again to 59-63. On the other end Suez Karni hit her team's first field goal, and from that Ramla did not return. Ramat Hasharon added some more free throws, Moore picked up her 5th foul and watched Perkins and Troina complete an 11-0 run to make it 74-59 with 2:15 left.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Jia Perkins 25 pts
Tatyana Troina 13 pts
Laine Selwyn 12 pts, 4 ast, 4 rebs
10 pts, 14 rebs
Liad Suez Karni 8 pts
Ebony Hoffman 8 pts, 8 rebs
Nomi Kolodny, Ayelet Cohen & Merav Dori 2 pts each
For Ramla:
Lena Ogorodnikova & Katia Levitzky 15 pts each
Ina Gourevitch 12 pts
Tamara Moore 11 pts, 5 ast
Sheri Sam 6 pts
Ortal Oren 3 pts
Anat Goldberg 2 pts
Abiola Wabara 1 pts
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Big game for Perkins
Photo: Motti Klniger |