The Athena League returned tonight (Thursday) to activity with the 12th round, which provided five interesting encounters. In the main game, Maccabi Ashdod girls tonight recorded a 78:88 victory over Elitzur Holon, also, Elitzur Ramla defeated Maccabi Raanana 64: 102 while AS Ramat Hasharon recorded 74:76 over Herzliya girls. In addition, Maccabi Haifa defeated Hapoel Rishon Lezion 71:75 and Maccabi Urbani Ramat Gan defeated Hapoel Petah Tikva 56:69.
Maccabi Girls Ashdod – Elitzur Holon 78:88
Alexis Peterson with 26 points and 45 index points led Maccabi Ashdod girls to a fifth consecutive league victory after 78:88 over Elitzur Holon, Holon’s Chelsea Hopkins was one rebound away from a triple double. The opening was by Ashdod who led 4:12 with 7 quick points by Daniel Adams. Alexis Peterson pulled to 6:15 and stopped Holon on 6 points in 6 minutes. From here, Shai Kelly and Chelsea Hopkins started producing points for Holon, but Ashdod opened a double-digit advantage of 10:20 and the first quarter ended at 13:24.
In the second quarter, a close game developed that ended in 21:23 for the hosts. Holon’s Shai Kelly reached 12 points, but Alexis Peterson from Ashdod finished the half with 19 private points and the teams went down to the break with a result of 34:47 for Gilad Katz’s team. Another interesting statistic recorded in the half. In Ashdod the 3 foreigners Peterson, Adams and Kadija Kiev together scored 42 points (each of which reached double digits) and Jordan Danan added 5 points. In Holon, Kelly, Chelsea Hopkins and Sequoia Holmes scored 25 points together.
In the third quarter, Ashdod went up to 40:57 from May Dayan’s basket and 49:69 from a three by Leah Forbis and the quarter ended with 52:69. Five minutes before the end of the game, Holon reduced to 78:68. In the game between the two in the first round, Holon won 72:83. If both teams finish the season with the same number of points, Holon will overtake Ashdod thanks to one point because they won by 11 points.
Scorers for Ashdod: Alexis Peterson 26 (11 assists), Daniel Adams 23, Kadija Kiev 16 (13 rebounds), Mai Dayan 10, Leah Forbiss 6, Jordan Danan 5.
Scorers for Holon: Shea Kelly 20, Chelsea Hopkins 14 (9 rebounds, 12 assists), Ayala Roth and Sequoia Holmes 11 each, Daniel Reber 8, Amy Rinat and Shai Doron 5 each.
Maccabi Raanana – Elitzur Neve David Ramla 102: 64
Elitzur Ramla, undefeated this season in the league, achieved another easy victory, 64: 102 at the expense of Maccabi Raanana, with 5 players from its ranks who recorded a double-digit score. Alison Heighthauer led Ramla to 10:17 and Alex Cohen, and Tiffany Mitchell to 14:28 and the first quarter that ended at 16:30 to Ramla. In the second quarter, Ramla went up to 24:42 and the teams went down to half at 37:55 when Kehill Davis led Raanana’s goals with 19 points. The third quarter was even, but in the last quarter a 13:31 run by Ramla sealed the result with another easy victory for the top singing and its apprentices.
Scorers for Raanana: Kayla Davis 25, Joiner Holmes 12, Yarden Gerzon 9, Emily Spector 5, Rotem Schuster and Noa Sharvit 4 each, Noa Givon 3, Amit Cohen 2.
Scorers for Ramla: Allison Hightower 20, Alex Cohen 19, Bingia Laney 18 (11 rebounds), Tiffany Mishtal 14, Alyssa Baron 13, Drew Edelman 9, Mai Nesher 5, Naama Shapir and Alex Gitchenko 2 each.
AS Ramat Hasharon – Herzliya girls 74:76
The first league victory of the season for coach Tal Natan, who joined Ramat Hasharon, who tonight defeated the Herzliya girls 74:76 at home and broke a chain of three losses. Two successful free throws by Jenny Sims, 6 seconds to go, gave Ramat Hasharon the victory, in a game that was close throughout. Ramat Hasharon played with only two foreigners.
Scorers for Ramat Hasharon: Jenny Sims 21 (10 rebounds), Daniel Karsh 18, Eliana Coates 17 (13 rebounds), Shelly Sirkis 9, Miriam Hanun 6, Gaia Sells 5.
Scorers for Herzliya: Victoria McCauley 21, Marina Maibri and Noga Peleg Peletz 16 each, Pollard Najai 14, Nofar Shalom 5, Hadar Hadad 2.
Hapoel Rishon LeZion – Maccabi Haifa 75:71
2:38 seconds to the end of the game the result was 68:68. From here until the end, Courtney Douglas and Tiana Moldero closed the deal and gave Haifa a double victory over Rishon Lezion, which broke a chain of three league losses.
Scorers for Rishon LeZion: Eden Tzipel 16, Sydney Cook (11 rebounds) and Gili Eisner 15 each, Chelsea Nelson 12, May profit 8, Hila Karsh 5.
Scorers for Haifa: Fionda Fitzgerald 24, Tiana Moldero 21, Nia Kofi 10 (15 rebounds), Courtney Douglas 9, Nur Kiuf 5, Tamar Singer 4, Ofir Kastan 2.
Maccabi Urban Ramat Gan – Hapoel Petah Tikva 56:69
The champion, Maccabi Urbani Ramat Gan, compensated for the loss in the previous round and defeated Hapoel Bnei Petah Tikva 56:69, on the evening when Petah Tikva’s big star, Jocelyn Willobi finished the game with only 15 points. Abandon Heidemann led Ramat Gan with 19 points. The first quarter ended at 10:14 for the hosts.
In the second quarter, too, Ramat Gan was better and went down to the break at 19:32 with 10 points by Natisha Heidemann. The third quarter, Petah Tikva won 15:17 but it was not enough for it in the last quarter that ended at 20:24 to Ramat Gan who managed to maintain a perfect home win balance.
Scorers for Ramat Gan: Natisha Heidman 19, Kayla Hillsman 15 (12 rebounds), Alex Harden 14 (11 rebounds), Eden Rotberg 12, Madison Sheh 6, Tamar Bar Gal 3.
Scorers for Petah Tikva: Kristin Simon 17 (10 rebounds), Kayla Charles 16 (12 rebounds), Jocelyn Willoughby 15 (10 rebounds), Tal Sahar and Nitzan Amar 4 each.