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Raanana Hertzeliya signed Jia Perkins
Lior Klinger
,11/14/2006 |
Raanana Hertzeliya released center Michelle Campbell and signed Jia Perkins of the Chicago Sky. Perkins will arrive in Israel on Thursday and play against Anda Ramat Hasharon on Monday.
Everyone knew a roster change was just a matter of time for Raanana Hertzeliya, and now it's official. Jia Perkins (5'9, 24), Texas Tech graduate in 2004 is the new foreigner for Raanana Hertzeliya. "Perkins is a point guard and a scorer, she can handle the 1 and also score a lot of points," said coach Tal Natan. "The league this year is a guards league, and it's important to know how to adapt. Perkins was one of the players I wanted to sign during the summer, but it didn't work out. I'm very glad I have the opportunity to bring her now, she's a very good player, she will need some time to adjust but once she does any basketball fan will enjoy watching her play," Natan continued.
The point guard position has been a major problem for Raanana Hertzeliya this season, and Perkins is expected to change that. In college she played shooting guard but this summer in Chicago she played the point. In 30 games, 27 starts, Perkins averaged 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 28 minutes per game. Before that Perkins played two seasons in Charlotte, the team that drafted her with the 35th pick in the 2004 draft. Perkins missed nearly the entire season due to pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, and that caused a lot of teams to pass up on her in the draft. In 2005 Perkins played in 30 games with the Sting and averaged 5.0 ppg in 15.5 mpg.
Natan addressed the point guard situation on the team so far: "I have a lot of appreciation for Yael Aharonov, who started the last few games and wasn't afraid to take a dive into the deep end. It was a great experience for her, she showed a lot of character and I hope she and the rest of the players in that position will learn a lot from Jia. Yesterday even Tasha Butts seems more relaxed knowing we have a point guard coming in, and it had a positive effect on Ornit Shwartz and Chen Nusel as well. Katia Levitzky returned to the lineup so that is another reason we could let Campbell go."
The one player Natan did not mention was Ortal Oren, who started out the season well as a starter but since then was benched for Aharonov and saw very little action in the last three games. Yesterday she played just 9 minutes in the win in Tel Aviv, a season low. "Ortal is going to play at the 2 position, as I intended all along", said Natan. "She is a very talented player who's been suffering from lack of confidence in the last couple of weeks. My job as a coach is to bring her back into it fast, I'm sure she will contribute a lot to the team in the future but there's one thing that should be clear – whoever is good on a given game, will continue to play in that game. The league is long, each player has already gotten a chance and will continue to get more in the future."
Perkins graduated from Texas Tech in 2004, she played three seasons slong with Plenette Pierson. In 16 games as a senior, before she left the team due to pregnancy, she led the team in scoring with 16.5 ppg, and also added 4,4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. As a junior Perkins averaged 15.9 points, 5.1 boards and 2.8 assists per game and was named All Big-12 1st Team for the 2nd time in her career.
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