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Women's Eurocup Final 4 Set
Orli Klinger
,01/22/2005 |
Anda Ramat Hasharon’s opponents in the Europe Cup Conference South Final Four have been set. Ramat Hasharon, the only undefeated team in the Europe Cup, is joined by Fenerbahce (Turkey), Dynamo Novosibirsk (Russia) and Lukoil (Bulgaria) who will play Ramat Hasharon in the semi final.
The conference final four will be held on the 9th and 10th of February. FIBA has yet to decide which of the four teams will get to host the event.
Ramat Hasharon advance to the final four by winning by 22 in Romania and getting a technical victory in the 2nd game following the Romanian’s decision not to show up. On paper it seems that Ramat Hasharon’s semi final opponent is the weakest of the four teams. The winner will be crowned Conference Champ but both finalists will advance to the Europe Cup quarter final stage.
Burgas Lukoil has no foreigners, American or Bosmans. The team’s leading scorer is also the most familiar name to fans in Israel, Rossiza Karoleva who played for three different Israeli teams. In the quarter final Burgas beat Apollon of Greece twice and overall won six of eight Europe Cup games this season.
Dynamo Novosibrisk recently signed Russian National Team center Oxana Zakalyuzhnaya and Nigerian Mfon Udoka (who played for Ramat Hasharon before and has WNBA experience). They are currently ranked 5th in the Russian league with 8 wins and 7 losses. In the conference quarter finals vs. Sofia, Dynamo lost game one on the road 90-79, but with their two new players they won 89-64 in game 2 and advanced. Overall, their record in the Europe Cup this year stands at 5-2.
In the semis Dynamo will play Fenerbahce, who recently signed the biggest name in this Final Four. Marie Ferdinand, San Antonio’s excellent All Star guard, is using the offseason to recover from an elbow injury that sidelined her in the summer. Another recognizable name on the roster is Tiffany Johnson, a center from the Houston Comets. Ferdinand joined the team about a month ago and played in both 1/4 final games vs. Ceyhan of Turkey. Fenerbahce dropped the first game on the road by one point, but won the second one 84-54 brining their overall Europe Cup record to 6-2. Fenerbahce is, if you will, the Ramat Hasharon of Turkey as they are ranked first in the local league with a record of 13-0.
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