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"Cinderella Season"
Safsal
,05/04/2012 |
Plenette Pierson came up with a fitting definition for Ashdod's season, which ended with a crazy overtime win in game 5 to complete a historic double. All comments from both teams - inside.
Edni Dagan
"I think this is a huge accomplishment. Ramla is an incredible team. Tanisha and LeCoe alone cost as much as all our foreigners plus two Israelis. Late in the game there was some lack of concentration, after five tough games players were tired and everyone made mental mistakes. I think this was a huge game, high level, this whole series and especially the way it ended is a great honor for women's basketball. There were a few plays where I thought we might lose, but Brashida had this one offensive rebound when I said to myself that's it, we want it more, we will win".
Adan Inbar
"We missed too many free throws in the final 3 minutes of regulation, at the end it comes down to the little things, especially in an overtime game. That was our downfall, little things, rebounding after a free throw. I want to congratulate Ashdod for a great season and a good series, I think the series did well for Ashdod and the league. I'm proud of the last two months, we went through a hard series against Ramat Hasharon, also without home court advantage. We were an inch away from the championship, the closer it is the more disappointing it feels. It's too soon and too painful to think about the future".
Nomi Kolodny
"It was so hard, I admit that I'm not used to being happy. I can't describe the feeling. The atmosphere here, I can't describe it either. I'm so happy for the city, for the club, for Edne, for the players. About my game today, I have no idea. Some of it is not thinking, things just went our way today"
Plenette Pierson
"Ashdod hasn’t done anything easy all season, we've done everything the hard way so why not come to game 5 and do it the hard way. Ramla played extremely hard, they weren't gonna give us anything easy, but we wanted it bad. We wanted it all season and tonight, I'm just speechless about it. You want it so bad and to have it all of a sudden, it's great.
[On the last play of regulation:] We knew we had to deny the pass and try to get a steal, it just so happens it went our way, the gods were on our side. Tamera had a great defensive play, she went for the steal actually got it and got pushed with the intentional foul. I mean I knew, from early on when Nomi shot a three and it went straight up and went back in, I knew we're winning.
Nomi was exceptional today, she's the reason why we won, she stepped up big time and gave us that extra spark that we needed today to get us going. She earned every bit of the MVP in this championship.
It definitely was a crazy series, for us to be down 1-2 to come back in what could be the final game, to play as hard as we did and win it, it's was amazing. Let alone to come back to Ashdod and win it in overtime, who would have ever thought it. It's kind of like a Cinderella season for us".
Brasheeda Elohim
"It doesn't feel real yet, once the day is over and I call my mother it would be real. We worked very hard, we've been through a lot there were times we wanted to kill each other but we wanted one thing in common. Through it all we had the same goal at the end of the day. It was the craziest series, I've been here 5 years and before the game Laine and I were talking about how we've never seen anything like it. Every game was blood, sweat and tears. We couldn't have asked for a better show for the fans and I'm glad we accomplished our goal at the end".
Meirav Dori
"I can’t recall another series like this one, it was totally crazy, you could never know what to expect at every game, and it's never over till it's over. Tamera's steal at the end was huge. It's true that we made a play like that in every win, but that's not the game plan, it just happened. This is an amazing and sweet victory. We worked so hard all season and it's fun to win the championship for our amazing fans, the management, everyone. We made history, a historic double, and it's fun to be a part of it. Amazing experience"
Ashley Shields
"We didn't break even when things were hard, there are ups and downs all season long, and tonight too. We worked hard all season, not many people thought we could do it but we stuck together and we believed. Edne prepared us very well to every game, we did everything to get here and today we played our hearts out too. I guess hard work pays off. Ramla made it tough for us to go to Plenette but we had other scenarios, everybody knew their roles and we stepped up today".
Tanisha Wright
"Ashdod deserved to win. They deserved to win, they made the big plays down the stretch, denying the ball and rebounding. Throughout the game it was little things hurting us and it cost us at the end. We had a chance, all we needed to do was inbound the ball. Then we had another chance, but they deserved to win."
Le'Coe Willingham
"It was a very good series for basketball. There's no comparing our team this year to last year's team, last year's team is something that doesn't happen much. This year people didn’t expect us to make the finals, our team really came together only in February, but we're a team of resilient players and everyone played their hearts out. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't, but we definitely gave our all. Tamera made a huge play with the steal at the end, but it doesn't really matter because we forced overtime and we still had a chance, it just didn’t go our way today".
Michal Epstein
"This series had been about making less mistakes, because it's so close and the teams are so even. They made less mistakes at the end. We all felt the win an inch away and it's so frustrating. As a team in the final minutes we made some mistakes. We were able to slow Plenette down today, but that was our plan in every game not just today, but Young and Shields were excellent. It was an awesome series for women's basketball, it's just a shame that we're on the disappointed end".
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