Basketball / Women's State Cup semis / Netanya lets Ramle slip through

Edwige Lawson-Wade drained a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to lift Elitzur Ramle past Elitzur Netanya 76-75 and into the women's State Cup final. The last-minute comeback, however, reflected a case of Netanya snatching defeat from the jaws of victory more than anything else.

Leading 75-63, Netanya seemed to be fewer than four minutes away from advancing to the championship game. The team was paced by captain Liad Suez Karni, who looked ready to atone for allowing Ramat Hen to beat Ramat Hasharon in last year's cup final. Then, suddenly, Ramle sprang back to life.

Each time Ramle scored, Netanya tried to milk the clock but failed to score another bucket down the stretch as its edge eroded.

Down 75-68, Ramle forced two straight turnovers, which Deanna Jackson - who finished with 26 points - converted into fast-break layups. With the lead cut down to three points, Netanya went into panic mode, passing up precious opportunities to save the victory they'd been so close to tasting. In the final minute, Ramle's Shimrit Gigi missed a close jumper, but Ramle immediately made a sloppy pass to turn the ball right back over.

Netanya then forced a jump ball situation with the possession arrow in Ramle's favor. Again Ramle missed, but Suez Karni tried to force a poor shot. Jackson was fouled but only made one shot with 30 ticks left, making it 75-73.

Naomi Kolodny was the next Netanya hoopster to make a miscue. After running down the shot clock, she drove into the lane and, like Suez Karni, failed to look for an open teammate, instead trying to force a driving shot that went wide. Ramle brought the ball up and Lawson-Wade had an open look for the winning three.

Lawson-Wade, the starting point guard for the French national women's team, was a likely candidate for the last-second heroics. Not only does she have many victories in her past, including two Russian championships, three FIBA World League titles and three Euroleague titles, she was also the winner of the three-point competition at the 2008 FIBA Europe all-star game.

In a rematch of last year's cup final, Ramat Hasharon easily handled Ramat Hen - last year's winner - 79-61. Ramat Hen put up a fight early, holding the league champs scoreless through the first four minutes of the second quarter to go up 20-16. However, coach Orna Ostfeld switched to a zone defense crowding the paint, and quickly reversed its fortunes.

Ramat Hen was unable to make the open looks from the perimeter while Ramat Hasharon found its groove on offense to take command of the game. Ramat Hasharon will meet Ramle in the Cup final Monday.