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Cup stays with Anda
Orli Klinger
,03/08/2006 |
Amber Hall came to play despite a sore back and with her Ramat Hen held on in a close first half but in the 2nd Ramat Hasharon switched gears and won 87-68. Bess Greenberg was named the MVP of the game.
Recap & stats inside.
The post game quotes
Finals photo gallery
Anda Ramat Hasharon 87 – Ramat Hen 68
Full stats
Anda Ramat Hasharon won its 2nd straight cup title with an 87-69 victory over Maccabi Ramat Hen, which lasted along with their injured captain for basically one half. Ramat Hasharon held Ramat Hen to 25 second half points and pulled away to an inerasable lead in the. Tamar Maoz, Ornit Shwartz & Petra Ujhelyi raised the cup in front of hundreds of cheering red fans.
Bess Greenberg only became a starter in the last three league games, but after a very good semi finals game she started the finals as well and won MVP of the game, as voted by the media and television crew. Cheryl Ford might have had a more impressive stat line and Greenberg who finished with 14 points and four assists was the 4th leading scorer on the team but that’s exactly what characterizes Ramat Hasharon this year. Greenberg was steady through out the game, made Ramat Hen pay for leaving her open, finished on fast breaks and put in a lot of effort on defense.
While Greenberg is the story on the winning side, Amber Hall was a walking inspiration on the losing side. She came out on the court as her teammates were deep into the pre game warm up. She stood under the basket, rebounded the ball and passed it to her teammates. She did a lot of stretching, trying to get that aching back to feel better, and with no more than a few minutes remaining before tip off she started running, dribbling and scoring. If there was any doubt whether or not she was going to play in the finals, it was gone at that instance. Those who know Amber Hall know that no back pain, or broken hand for that matter, would keep her out of a game this big.
Anda Ramat Hasharon started out with a zone and Natasha Brackett hit the game’s first basket from long range. Another Brackett three made it 6-4 in favor of Ramat Hen while on the other end Nolan pushed the ball fast up the floor and Ramat Hasharon hardly played their set offense. Ramat Hen turned it over three times in a row as Ramat Hasharon was deflecting the ball and keeping it out of the paint. The offensive glass helped Ramat Hen get their first bucket inside, courtesy of Amber Hall, and Hall’s dish to Deanna Jackson for the layup made it 13-9 with 4 minutes left in the first. Nolan answered with a three but Hall off of another offensive rebound made a 3-point play to give Ramat Hen a 16-12 lead. Ramat Hen came back from a time out in a zone and found Hall for two more to make it 20-14. They finished the quarter with four turnovers and an airball, which Ramat Hasharon used to make a 6-0 run which included 4 points by Ford and led 22-20 after 10 minutes.
Brackett with a three and a transition mid range jumper gave Ramat Hen the lead back at 25-24, but it didn’t last long. Ramat Hen had trouble getting the ball inside against the zone and settled for outside shots that generated long rebounds. Ramat Hasharon raced to a 31-25 lead with five points from Greenberg, timeout Ramat Hen with 7 minutes to go in the half. Ramat Hasharon increased the lead with easy points for Liron Cohen & Nolan, 35-26, while Ramat Hen just didn’t get good looks.
Ramat Hen responded with a 9-0 run to tie the score. Jackson scored from the high post, where she should have gotten the ball a lot more, Hall got a steal that led to a Chen Nusel three and Jackson again off an offensive rebound. Ramat Hasharon with 4 points by Ford made it a 6-point game again, 41-35, but Ramat Hen wouldn’t let them pull away. Ford and Nolan made it 45-41 from the line, but at the other end Sharon Zeevi went strong to the basket and fell hard on her back, but with the basket plus the foul. No less than four players wounded up on the floor as the final 8 seconds ticked away and the halftime score was 45-43.
The 2nd half was a very different story. Hall kept fighting but couldn’t save the day, Ramat Hasharon’s man to man stopped leaving Brackett open and after scoring eight points in each of the first two quarters, Brackett had 1 point in the 3rd and finished with 21. Monika Veselovski had a bad shooting day and Ramat Hen had too many turnovers to stand a chance.
Deanna Jackson tied the game to start the 2nd half, but the pace cooled down and Ramat Hen had just one basket in the first six minutes. Nolan found Ujhelyi for a layup with a full court pass as Ramat Hen was somewhere in dreamland and got beat on the break, 52-46 with 6:20 left in the quarter. Nusel hit a contested jumper to cut it to 56-52 but Greenberg went right by her to make it a 6-point game again. Ana Jocuvic’s three and Ford’s free throws made it 63-52 and Jackson at the buzzer set the 3rd quarter score. Ramat Hasharon won the quarter 18-11.
The lead reached 16 early in the 4th with a three from Maoz and baskets by Nolan & Greenberg, while Ramat Hen was struggling and forcing shots. Hall battled for two straight offensive boards but Ramat Hen couldn’t turn that into points, and on the other end Ford got it through the rim the first try. Ramat Hasharon played smart and used up the clock, as Nolan was picking and choosing her take offs for nice looking points, like the ones that made it 74-60 with six minutes to go. Shiki Falach tried a 4-Israeli lineup but that didn’t work either, and Ramat Hasharon kept closing in on the cup. Ford made it 83-62 but Ramat Hasharon wasn’t ready to give up on anything as demonstrated by Nolan, who sprinted back on defense for a mean block on Noa Ganor who thought she had a fast break layup garunteed. After that Nolan headed for the bench and got standing ovations.
For Ramat Hasharon:
Cheryl Ford 21 pts, 12 boards, 4 steals
Deanna Nolan 19 pts, 8 rebs, 4 ast
Ana Jocovic 15 pts, 6 rebs
Bess Greenberg 14 pts, 4 ast
Petra Ujhelyi 7 pts, 5 rebs
Liron Cohen 6 pts
Tamar Maoz 3 pts
Lena Fedulova 2 pts
For Ramat Hen:
Natasha Brackett 21 pts
Deanna Jackson 14 pts, 7 rebs
Amber Hall 13 pts, 14 rebs, 6 steals
Sharon Zeevi 9 pts
Chen Nusel 5 pts
Monika Veselovski 4 pts, 6 rebs
Shiri Sharon 2 pts, 5 ast, 5 TOs
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Photo by: Motti Klinger |
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