(Noam Sports) In a game that had a championship feel, the Noam Knights hosted the Moriah Mountaineers in the YMSSA 7/8 girls quarterfinal game last week, the rematch of last year’s championship game. The Knights, coming off a strong season, finished the season 9-1 with their only loss to the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers were also having a terrific season, soundly defeating the Hillel Heat in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat had defeated Moriah twice in the regular season, handing them two of their four losses. After defeating Noam in last year’s championship game, the Mountaineers and Knights split their two matchups during the regular season.
Moriah came out of the game shooting and quickly amassed a 7-0 lead, as the Knights were having a hard time connecting on only two field goals in the first quarter. Noam’s Sage Eis scored the team’s first points as the Knights battled back, tying the game at 14, lead by Riki Amos, who was a dominant force on the boards and in the scorebook (scoring a team high 10 points) for the Knights, despite being the focal point of the Moriah defense. With several transition baskets by Ariella Piotnica, Erin Sheps, Nira Lewis and Talia Fried, Moriah pushed ahead to be up five points at the half.
The Mountaineers continued to rain 3s in the third quarter as they extended their lead to 12 points. Then it all seemed to click for the Knights as Elisheva Dresdner and Noa Schulder nailed back to back 3s and Tiferet ‘money’ Ciner picked off passes on consecutive Moriah possessions, to turn the tables as the Knights found themselves up seven points. Moriah answered back with another 3 from Sheps and as the clock was winding down they were forced to foul Ciner nailed three out of her four free throws sealing the game for the Noam Knights.
In the semifinals game this past saturday night, the Noam Knights hosted the Kushner Cobras who were similarly coming off a 56-32 quarter final defeat of MDS. The Knights came out strong behind another monster game from Riki Amos as she scored seven of her game high 17 points, the Knights took a 28-11 lead into the half. The Cobras were not about to give up and rallied behind point guard Laya Rosenberg (team high 16 points) and sharp shooter Emily Baum to cut the deficit to single digits. The Noam bench kept the starters momentum going: three monster blocks by Ariella Fleischman kept the cobras at bay, a 12 point game from Leille Skoczylas a solid all around game by Leeba Weiss, while Naama Prager and Emma Wallach did a great job facilitating the Noam offense after Ciner fouled out, helped lead the Knights to victory.
The Knights await the winner of the February 28 Yavneh vs. He’Atid game to see who will be their opponent on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the championship.
