Raanana Hertzeliya wins in Motzkin

[KIBIC]

Raanana Hertzeliya wins in Motzkin
Lior Klinger ,12/02/2005
Raanana Hertzeliya got a very important road victory in Motzkin, as they beat the league’s best offensive team in their own game, 96 – 86. 34 points from Tamara Moore weren’t enough for Motzkin against a well balanced Raanana Hertzeliya team that finally finished the game well.

Haopel Haifa Motzkin 86 - Raanana Hertzeliya 96
Both teams came into the game with just one loss, at Ramat Hasharon in a game both could have and should have won. Both teams consider themselves capable of going all the way this season, and the pressure naturally was on the home team. Raanana Hertzeliya won their last four games at home and wanted to prove they can win on the road.

Haifa Motzkin lead the league in points per game while Raanana Hertzeliya is the best defensive team in the league. The game was high scoring right from the start but Raanana Hertzeliya still led through out nearly the entire game. “We like to play at that pace too,” said K.B Sharp after the game. “We know when we’re getting a little out of control how to slow down and set the game, but we don’t have a problem scoring” she continued.

Motzkin already proved this year against Hapoel Tel Aviv that they can come back to steal a game at home even when they’re not playing well. Raanana Hertzeliya however had a tendency to get themselves in trouble in the final minutes of the game. Tonight, Raanana Hertzeliya was without a doubt the better team and they finished strong turning a 76-77 deficit with 6 minutes to play to a 92-79 advantage with 2:30 left.

“We talked about it the last game, players are starting to get used to the league and it showed today” said Tal Natan, who got a season high 26 points from Tatyana Troina and a great game from K.B Sharp with 21 points, 17 in the 2nd half. “We played in an admirable fashion during crunch time and the player who really stood out today was K.B Sharp. She ran the offense very well and scored key points at the right time. Tatyana Troina was also excellent, but it was a team effort of 8-9 players” he added.

We do not have the full stats from this game, as the computer only started working 5 minutes into the first quarter. From the brief look we got at screen and the so called boxscore (no printer of course), it was so bad that we refuse to insert it into the system and ruin all the players’ rebounding and assists averages.

Both teams started off with man to man defense, and Chelsea Newton got the task of defending the league’s leading scorer, Tamara Moore. She did a great job early on as Moore didn’t get any touches. Raanana Hertzeliya started with a 7-2 run that included five points from Monique Coker, including a trey. Motzkin started going inside to LeCoe Willingham and Moore drew a foul from Newton, her 2nd in just 3 minutes of play. Newton, who averaged 4 fouls per game coming in, will probably be back in the US by the time she gets used to the Israeli refs.

Moore found Lori Nero inside and she tied the game at 9 apiece. Raanana Hertzeliya answered with five quick points, a wide open jumper for Sharp and a 3pt-play for Tal Salz who came in for Newton. Raanana Hertzeliya got two fastbreak buckets and Motzkin called a timeout down 18-11. Troina got herself in the game with two free throws and an easy layup in a good offensive set, before nailing her first 3 to make it 25-17. Moore had four points to cut the lead to 25-21 at the end of the quarter, she scored eight out of her nine points in the quarter after Newton left.

Newton reentered the game and drove in for two, but those was Raanana Hertzeliya’s only points in the first five minutes of the 2nd quarter. Motzkin however did not take advantage and blew many chances under the basket. Newton picked up her 3rd and left for the bench with her team up 29-27. Moore and Troina went head to head for the next for minutes, as Troina scored 10 points and Moore had 13 out of Motzkin’s last 14 in the half. It started when Moore drove past Troina for a layup, but Troina knocked down two threes, one right in Moore’s face and then another one from further out to make it 35-30. Moore replied with four more points but Shiran Zairy’s three set the halftime score at 43-39 in favor of the visitors. Moore had 22 points already and Troina had 17. Coker and Willingham had just 7 points each.

The game stayed close in the 3rd as Raanana Hertzeliya led 52-50 after five minutes. Coker started to get going with six points that helped Raanana Hertzeliya build a 61-54 lead but Moore scored 7 in a row to get Motzkin back in the game as she drew Newton’s 4th foul. It was a 63-61 game before Sharp again made Motzkin pay for leaving her open, and after the jumper she drove for a 3pt play to make it 67-62. Lena Mustafina made Motzkin’s first 3pt field goal of the day to cut it to 67-65 after 3.

Both defenses went on strike at the start of the 4th quarter as no team missed a shot in two minutes. Raanana Hertzeliya blinked first and Willingham gave Motzkin their first lead of the game at 74-73. Sharp answered right away with another 3pt play, but Mustafina’s 2nd trey made it 77-76 Motzkin with 6 minutes to go. Then Raanana Hertzeliya went on an impressive 14-2 run in 4:30 minutes. It started with six quick points in one minute against Motzkin’s non-existent defense. Newton and Arbel added two more buckets and suddenly it was a nine point game. A timeout didn’t help Motzkin as Tamara Moore was MIA in the 4th, Sharp had a floater and right after a steal and a lay-up that made it 92-79, good night everybody and drive safely.

Sharp was very pleased with the way her team put the game away this time. “We definitely didn’t close out games well before, in Ramat Hasharon [only 2 points in the 4th] or against Ramat Hen [5 missed FTs in final 2 minutes], but I think we’re a team that doesn’t really feel pressure. I mean sometimes we’re erratic but we don’t panic” she added.

Troina talked about her shooting display, four of eight from 3pt land. “I started off kind of cold, they guarded me close but as our offense progressed I had some open looks and made my shots” she said. “We have to play better defense, but well Tamara’s gonna score her points so we tried to do a good job on the rest of them, the other players. Two players cannot win a game, Tamara and LeCoe are both great offensive players but if you shut down the others then you can win. We don’t have people scoring 40 points, we can score from every position” she concluded.

For Raanana Hertzeliya:
Tatyana Troina 26 pts
K.B Sharp 21 pts
Monique Coker 19 pts
Chelsea Newton & Sarit Arbel 10 pts each
Shiran Zairy 5 pts
Tal Salz 3 pts
Hilla Izhar 2 pts

For Haifa Motzkin
Tamara Moore 34 pts
LeCoe Willingham 20 pts
Lori Nero 12 pts
Lena Mustafina 9 pts
Inbal Mizrachi 7 pts
Neda Djuric 4 pts


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