The 12th round of the Athena Winner Basketball League for women closed today (Friday) with two games that on paper were supposed to be one-sided, but in a round of close games and upheavals - only one of them became one.
Elitzur Virali Tel Aviv - Hapoel Rishon LeZion 102: 74
Hapoel Rishon LeZion dropped the first place in the table three days ago when it lost in Ashdod at the end of a great game by the locals, and today they had no intention of allowing the newcomer the opportunity to force a close game on it.
Ziv Erez's players attacked the host team from the beginning and tried to run at every possible opportunity.
They finished the first quarter with a 15:27 advantage that was not questioned for a second from the first attack.
Daniela Reuven's team started the second quarter well and managed to narrow the gap to seven points.
She was assisted by an aggressive defense, in a game where the referees tried almost never to whistle for fouls.
But just when it seemed that the game might go in a more competitive direction, Jenny Sims came and in a few individual actions returned the double-digit advantage to Rishon LeZion.
Kiara Leslie with the ball, Photo: Courtesy of the Women's Basketball Super League Administration,
The most critical move for Tel Aviv was the third offense recorded for Sims' duty two minutes before the break - but even that did not stop Rishon LeZion from scoring 43 percent from outside the arc and increasing the advantage to 33:54 at the break.
It was a scattered game by Elitzur Tel Aviv, who recorded the 13th loss in the game already two minutes into the third quarter.
For these losses, Rishon Lezion was punished with threes by Eden Tzipel and Dakia Cohen.
The gap has already grown to 37:64, while the group from the wine city stands at 50 percent of the three (8 of 16).
The home team tried to fight more on defense and also somehow managed to stop Sims (who recorded seven turnovers by the end of the third quarter), but too individual and scattered play on offense prevented her from approaching.
48:82 Crazy for Rishon LeZion at the end of the third quarter.
The last quarter was already for protocol only.
The players of Elitzur Virali Tel Aviv mainly tried to improve their averages in the attack and saw their first three come in (Yuval Holtzman) two minutes before the end. , But none of these, of course, affected the identity of the winner.
Scorers for Tel Aviv:
Carrington 31, Leslie 21, Zlibansky 10, Moldro 7, Holtzman 3, Identity 2.
Scorers for Rishon LeZion:
Sims 27, Block 24, Tzipel 20, Cohen 17, Gopher 6, Skovia 5, Karsh 3.
Eden Tzipel, Photo: Courtesy of the Basketball Premier League Administration,
Carrington deliberations, Photo: Courtesy of the Women's Basketball Premier League Administration,
Maccabi Ashdod girls - Herzliya girls 71:74
If Maccabi Banot Ashdod positively ends this season, we may return to these weeks to indicate where the change took place for the team from the port city.
Three days after defeating Hapoel Rishon LeZion, the Ashdodites hosted the Herzliya girls from the bottom today, and tried to convey a message already in the opening. The significant advantage from the first minutes was offset towards the end of the quarter and stood at only 20:21,
If on Tuesday it was Mai Dayan whose points in the third quarter overwhelmed Rishon LeZion, then today it was Tal Sahar who scored 12 points one hundred percent from the field in the first half and showed that Ashdod was not only an excellent team but also diverse. Offensively, they also completely tightened the defense and forced Herzliya with only six right points in the first six minutes of the quarter.
Herzliya made all the necessary adjustments during the break.
She came out in the second half uniquely determined and also showed everyone who doubted that despite the low position in the table, she has a lot of good basketball to sell.
A tremendous 0:17 run in the first six minutes completely reversed the result and raised the team from Sharon to a 44:49 advantage.
What is amazing is that even after this run, Ashdod's percentage of 2 was 60. They simply could not destroy them due to an unusual sequence of ball losses.
If Herzliya recorded only seven losses, the home team lost the ball 14 times until the end of the third quarter, and only a slight drop in tension with the visitors allowed it to end the quarter with 10 points and a 52:54 advantage.
The final quarter continued to be tight.
Victoria Vivians and Alison Hightower took on the offensive missions in the last minutes in Ashdod.
Krisma Penn, who recently joined Herzliya, gave produce in the final quarter and joined in a fairly balanced points division with Brown, Simon and Forbis.
15 seconds to go, Penn also reduced the deficit to 72:71, but just like in the loss to Ramla at the beginning of the week, this time too Herzliya did not manage to win at the end of a close game.
Hightower scored twice from the line and the end result was exactly the same as Herzliya's previous loss - 71:74.
Scorers for Ashdod:
Vivians 24, Sahar 14, Cohen 13, Hightower 11, Boone 6, Dayan 4, Sha2.
Scorers for Herzliya:
Simon 17, Forbis 16, Brown 14, Penn 13, Gut 7, Azouri 3, Fleischer 1.
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