|
|
30 in Game 3
Orli Klinger
,04/16/2009 |
Ramat Hasharon learned its lesson from game 2. After a nearly identical first half, Ramat Hasharon broke the game wide open in a wonderfull 30 – 15 3rd quarter. The scoreboard showed 79 – 50 after three quarters, setting up a huge statement win for Ramat Hasharon who led by as many as 37. The reds are now up 2 – 1 heading into Sunday's game 4 in Ramla, one win away from ending a 6 year championship drought.
Photo gallery
Electra Ramat Hasharon 96 – Elizur Ramla 66
Boxscore
Following a first half déjà vu of game 2, with 17 points by Jia Perkins and a 49 – 35 score, Ramat Hasharon made sure that was the only time anyone would have game 2 flash backs. The locals broke the game wide open with a 30 – 15 3rd quarter, with Laine Selwyn & Merav Dori leading the way, to open a 79 – 50 lead after three. Ramat Hasharon shot extremely well from outside the paint and the arc and led by as many as 37. Laine Selwyn led five players in double figures with 22, Perkins only needed to add 2 points after halftime as she got a lot of rest.
"After the last game we knew we could't let up cause they come back", Selwyn said after a 22 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists effort. She was excellent in the 3rd quarter which won the game. "We played really well as a team. We knew that in the last game we couldn't put them away and today we played very strong in the 3rd quarter". Coach Orna Ostfeld was also satisfied at the end. "Yes, we tore them apart, we outplayed them at every parameter. Laine was huge today, Jia is always huge, everyone who played did well tonight. I didn't care about the spread in the 4th quarter, this game is over. On Sunday we have to play like we did today and know Ramla won't break, definitely not at their house. That is a proud team and they'll come in to defend their title", she summed up.
"We don't have a choice, we have to have faith and be optimistic. Tonight they were much better than us from the first minute, we didn't have the energy and we couldn't stop them", Eli Rabi admitted. "In the first half we made two comebacks and were still down 14, that says it all. We weren't here and that's unfortunate for us, but they played like machines. The final spread doesn't matter, it's 2 – 1 in the series, we'll try to win by a point at home and do everything in our power not to lose the championship in Ramla. It might sound funny but this is still wide open, 2 – 1, last year we came back from this situation and won game 5 at Ramat Hasharon".
Ramla got off to a good start as Katia Levitsky made a three and Tamara Moore scored twice down low on Selwyn who got no help, 7 – 2. Jia Perkins continued her amazing series and created six points to help the locals take the lead for good. Ramat Hasharon improved its aggressiveness on defense and got out on the break, 13 – 9 after Selwyn's steal and layup. Tatyana Troina added five points and Perkins made a beautiful three point play to increase the gap while Ramla couldn't get any good looks, 21 – 13. The visitors used some Ramat Hasharon turnovers to get to the line and cut it to 17 – 21. But Ramla made no field goals in the quarter's final five minutes and watched Moore & Sam pick up fouls #2 & #3 respectively, 24 – 17 after one.
Perkins made an awesome tip in to record her 3rd 'And 1' of the night and make it 29 – 17. Ramla probably waited to be down double figures and made their comeback using a 12 – 2 run which included two threes by Levitsky, 29 – 31. Sam hit no rim on a three that sent Selwyn down the other end for a short jumper in transition which sparked a 17 – 6 run till halftime. Perkins continued her highlight rail half with a great block on Sam's layup which turned into a Selwyn three, 40 – 31. Selwyn added an assist to Hoffman and another three to make it 49- 35 at the half, same score as in game two. For those in Ramla who believe that miracles don't happen twice, there were plenty more reasons for concern like Ramat Hasharon's 8 offensive boards or Sam's 0 for 5 from the floor. They were lucky Wabara almost doubled her playoff average with 10 points and that Levistky sank all three threes. Such luck didn't occur in the 2nd half.
Ramat Hasharon made sure that this time they won't be sweating much in the closing minutes. The gap grew to 20 in under three minutes as Dori scored five points and drew Sam's 4th foul, 59 – 37. Perkins spent the game's final 14 minutes on the bench as her team kept shooting the lights out, while Ramla on the other end watched Gourevitch and Ogorodnikova take painful hits and head for the bench. Ramat Hasharon capped off the 3rd with a quick 9 – 0 blitz to open a mind blowing 79 – 50 lead as Kolodny & Selwyn scored on the break. The 4th was just for the record as the lead reached 37. Ostfeld put the bench in and Ramla made a 9 – 0 run in the final minutes to prevent an unprecedented humiliation.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Laine Selwyn 22 pts, 6 rebs, 5 ast
Jia Perkins 19 pts
Tatyana Troina & Merav Dori 14 pts each
Ayelet Cohen & Ebony Hofffman 6 pts each
Liad Suez Karni 3 pts
Nomi Kolodny 2 pts
For Ramla:
Katia Lecitsky 14 pts, 6 rebs
Abiola Wabara 12 pts
Ortal Oren & Sheri Sam 9 pts each
Tamara Moore 8 pts
Lena Ogorodnikova 7 pts
Shani Avraham 3 pts
Ina Gourevitch & Anat Goldberg 1 pts each
Latest stories
|
Laine Selwyn |
|
Print
|
|
|
|
|