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The Future Is Here
Orli Klinger
,01/04/2010 |
The unnecessary late ejection of Laine Selwyn by a ref who "definitely has something against her" took away the attention from an awesome marquee game. Ramla showed the league that the holiday break makeover created a legit championship contender. Ramla handed Ramat Hasharon its first loss, 78 – 71, and it might not be the last.
Elizur Ramla 78 – Electra Ramat Hasharon 71
Boxscore
We'll start with the non basketball related stuff. In the final seconds a strange event accorded, as referee Dudi Romano brought the ball too close to Selwyn's head as she was with her back towards him. She probably said something she shouldn't have and he threw her out. Coach Orna Ostfeld later said that Romano has something against Selwyn and if it won't stop, she'll take it to the media.
Selwyn didn’t comment on the incident. "We played terrible", she summed up. "Not to take anything away from Ramla, they're a great team with excellent players. It'll always be a battle between us and them. We're still in 1st place, this isn’t the end of the world. We want to win when it counts". Selwyn scored 19 points, the only one in double figures other than Kia Vaughn who scored 20 of her 25 in the 1st half. "I didn’t realize she didn’t get the ball enough, maybe it's my fault, they also packed it in on her. It's a combination of both".
Now let's get back to basketball, to Ramla's new and improved version. Even though they had almost no time to practice, the new Ramla looks scary and with limitless potential. Five players in double figures led to a huge win and you can't really pick one MVP. The arrival of Edwige Lawson Wade, a true PG and one of Europe's best, changed everything. She finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists in an excellent debut. The return of #15, Plenette Pierson, added a lot of experience and heart especially defensively in the 2nd half. Coming in with no practice time and facing the well oiled machine from Ramat Hasharon made Ramla play pressure free. Does anyone remember that not too long ago, they lost at home to Ashdod & Natanya?
"I felt good. It's always great to come back to Ramla, to these fans", said an exhausted Pierson at the end and she definitely knows what it means to beat Ramat Hasharon. "It's true that we played Ramat Hasharon but we had no pressure, we knew they are a great team and perfect so far. At halftime we took note of Vaughn's 20 points and we packed it in on her in the 2nd half, she and Laine are their key".
"We still have a lot of work, we didn’t play well but our determination helped. Unlike in the past, today we didn’t break in the tough times. We brought two experienced players and it helped us keep the balance, we didn’t have ups and downs", said coach Noa Ricanati. "I hope we jell, today we were out of sync on both ends. We got a little taste of the two new players, Plenette wasn't close to how good she can be".
Ramat Hasharon went up 17 – 14 thanks mainly to Vaughn and some offensive rebounds. After Ostfeld benched her with two fouls Ramla went on a 9 – 0 run to end the quarter up 23 – 17, and never trailed again.
Lawson Wade came back despite two fouls and hit a three to help Ramla take its biggest lead, 32 – 23. An 18 – 6 run since the last red lead. Vaughn was still unstoppable and scored half her team's points to cut it to 28 – 32. Quinn scored five quick ones to make it 9 again. Ramat Hasharon went back to its zone who slowed Ramla down through out the game and cut it to 36 -42 at the half.
Ambrosia Anderson hit the 2nd red three of the game in 11 attempts, 42 – 46, but Lawson Wade hit a three right bach. Ramat Hasharon started pressing a little and almost changed the momentum but Ramla got some big stops, thanks to Pierson in large parts. She also found Jackson on the break, 52 – 44. Ramat Hasharon came back with Vaughn's only 3rd quarter field goal, a basket from Selwyn and a Dori three, 54 – 55, but they couldn’t tie. Ramla closed out the 3rd with a 6 – 0 run in two plus minutes, 61 – 54 after three.
Sheri Sam woke up momentarily and doubled her point total with two baskets, bu Quinn answered on the other end and Gigi kept punishing anyone who ate her shot fake, 65 – 59. Vaughn's 2nd and last 2nd half basket cut the lead before Lawson Wade hit another big three. Selwyn made two open threes to make it just 67 – 71 with 3 minutes to go, but Pierson scored a big bucket over Vaughn to prevent heart attacks. Anderson's threes refused to fall and Ramla sealed it from the line.
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