Article published November 14, 2009
Rockets women fall in season opener
Night still special for Shafir as parents travel from Israel to watch
Naama Shafir scored eight points in Toledo's loss to Northwestern last night. It was the first college game that the sophomore forward's parents from Israel were able to attend.
 PHOTO GALLERY: UT women's basketball: Toledo vs. Northwestern
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THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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By ZACH SILKA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
While the majority of college athletes have to get used to playing away from friends and family, Naama Shafir had it more difficult than most.
Two years ago, the University of Toledo sophomore point guard made the decision to leave her native Israel and pursue her dream of playing college basketball in the United States.
That choice also meant she would have to leave behind her parents and eight siblings, who couldn't just jump in the car and take a road trip to watch her play.
Last night, however, Shafir had two familiar faces in the crowd for the Rockets' 73-64 loss to Northwestern at Savage Arena - her mom and dad.
Shafir finished with eight second-half points and eight assists, but was not available for comment after the game because of Sabbath restrictions. As an Orthodox Jew, Shafir is not able to do anything considered work from sundown on Friday to just after sundown on Saturday.
"It would have been good for Naama's parents to see her win since it was their first game seeing her [play in college]," said UT sophomore guard Courtney Ingersoll, who came off the bench to knock down three 3-pointers and score 11 points."It was motivation and stuff, but I'm just happy that Naama's parents are here and she can play in front of them. That's the most important thing."
Before the game, Ytzik and Shlomit Shafir presented each of the UT players with a good luck charm - a keychain with a picture of Hoshaya, their village in Israel, on one side and a Hebrew prayer that the family recites before they travel on the other.
Shafir's parents also will be on hand to watch their daughter and the Rockets take on Cleveland State tomorrow at Savage Arena.
"We're very excited to see her play," said Shafir's father, Ytzik, before the game. "She's always done very well in basketball. After her first year of playing, she played with the boys because she was too competitive for the girls."
Ytzik Shafir added that her decision to play in America is somewhat unpopular back home, but Naama is very happy in Toledo.
"Some of the coaches in Israel don't like that she came here. They said she wouldn't improve, but really they just wanted her to play there," Ytzik Shafir said. "She decided on her own that she wanted to come here and play. She's very happy with her decision. She feels very good here. The university and coaches and players make her feel very comfortable."
The Rockets (0-1) could never get comfortable last night against Northwestern.
Amy Jaeschke, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, scored a game-high 27 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots for the Wildcats (1-0), who also started another 6-5 forward in freshman Dannielle Diamant.
Sophomore forward Brittany Orban and freshman forward Kendall Hackney, Ohio's reigning Miss Basketball and Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame product, added 13 points apiece.
"We played a team tonight that may not have been picked in the top half of the Big Ten, but there's no doubt in my mind they'll finish in the top half of the Big Ten," UT coach Tricia Cullop said. "There's not a lot of teams that can put two 6-5 kids out there that can cause so much damage."
Northwestern converted 22 of its 51 shots (43 percent), while holding UT to a 26-of-68 (38 percent) shooting effort from the field. The Wildcats also hit 27-of-33 (82 percent) at the free throw line, compared to 4-of-8 for the Rockets.
In the first half, Northwestern shot 48 percent from the field and built a 34-23 advantage.
"We let them get off to a good start in the beginning," said UT senior forward Tanika Mays, who led the Rockets with 16 points and 10 rebounds. "We were always playing catch-up. That was our main problem."
Hosting a Big Ten team for only the fourth time in the last 13 years, UT falls to 13-22 all-time against the conference. The Rockets get another shot at the Big Ten when they play at Indiana Dec. 22.
"We scheduled tough for a reason, and that was so we would improve," Cullop said. "We didn't schedule to where we could pad wins and feel all happy about ourselves and not be prepared for MAC play.
"This was a great measuring stick. It's a great teaching tool heading into [tomorrow] against Cleveland State."
Contact Zach Silka at:
zsilka@theblade.com.
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