Monday, December 22, 2008

Israeli Cup Quarterfinals - Ramat Hen 82, Tel Aviv 70



Women's basketball in Israel is currently on its winter break, but they believe in basketball during the holidays. The "Israeli Cup" is held in the mid-season break and Ivory Latta got no rest after being signed by Maccabi Ramat Hen from her former Turkish club Ceyhan. She put in a great effort to help lead Ramat Hen to a quarterfinals win.

The boxscore is here.

Ramat Hen led 25-13 at the end of the first quarter and led 41-30 at halftime. According to the writeup, the biggest lead of the game for Ramat Hen was 20 points and there wasn't much of a chance for Tel Aviv to stage a comeback. Everyone got a chance to play in the second half and the goal was to keep Ramat Hen's starters free from fatigue.

Ramat Hen shot 44 percent from the field compared to 37 percent shooting from Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv, however, outrebounded Ramat Hen on the offensive boards by a factor of 18 to 12. Neither team really turned over the ball, and even though Tel Aviv was sent to the free throw line 22 times, they only made 14 shots - Ramat Hen shot 13-for-17 from the line.

LaToya Pringle had an amazing 18 points, 18 rebounds double-double for Ramat Hen. Pringle served as a backup F/C for the Phoenix Mercury this year. Tamara James, who last played for the Washington Mystics in 2007, would score 20 points and six rebounds. Ivory Latta, just getting off the plane it seems, would score 18 points but take 22 shots (16 FG, 6 FT) to do it. However, she had eight assists, not too bad when you're serving as point for a brand new team.

Tel Aviv would only play eight players and their leading scorers would be foreigners. Alex Anderson, a graduate of UT Chattanooga, would score 20 points and 14 rebounds with four assists, a second double-double in the game. Diamond Rogers would score 21 points and 7 rebounds - Rogers graduated from Alabama-Birmingham this year. Tierra Willson, a graduate of Fresno State, would contribute 12 points in the Tel Aviv loss.

No comments: