Delhi and Chhattisgarh cagers meet for girls crown

Ludhiana, June 2 (UNI) Defending champions Chhattisgarh and Delhi maintained their winning spree on their way to girls final in the 57th Dhanoa Junior National Basketball Championship being conducted by Punjab Basketball Association at the Guru Nanak Indoor Stadium here today.

Holders Chhattisgarh shattered hopes of hosts Punjab girls as they beat them by 86-71 in the semi-final encounter. Earlier, well-organised Delhi defeated Kerala by 72-56.

With tall Punjab skipper Kiran out of form, Chhattisgarh virtually clinched the issue in the first two quarters. Punjab conceded 12 points (8-20) in the first quarter and nine (12-21) in the second quarter. As the match progressed and the home crowd egging them, Punjab were able to win the third quarter by 26-20 while the fourth and last quarter ended in a draw (25-25). As Chattisgarh had established a good lead of 21 points at half time (41-20), Punjab tried their best to bounce back into the game but it was too late.

The hosts played under pressure against the defending champions.

Repeatedly under board missing cost Punjab the match.

Punjab skipper Kiran could score only 10 points in the second half.

Only one free throw was recorded in Kiran's name in the first quarter. Chhattisgarh and Punjab had an identical nine three-pointers to their credit. Chhattisgarh's top scorer Kawaljeet excelled with her accurate scoring, including eight three-pointers. Pushpa was the other tall scorer for Chhattisgarh with 25 points.

For the hosts, Sarabjit (22) and Harwinder (18) were the main scorers.

In the second semi-final, Delhi girls gave a consistence display.

After trailing by 18-21 in the first quarter, Delhi bounced back into the game with a vengeance and scored a runaway 18-5 win in the second quarter and converted their defecit into profit. Thereafter they did not look back. In close contest, Delhi won the third quarter by 19-16 and fourth and last by 17-14. The main architect of Delhi's triumph was Akansha who sank 25 points with the help of four three-pointers. Brinda (21) and Shamin (16) gave Akasnsha full support as Delhi ousted Kerala. Victoria (18, 2x3) and Reshma (17) reduced the margin for Kerala.

Late last night, Punjab's challenge in the boys section had ended as Rajasthan beat the hosts by 96-84 in a thrilling encounter.

Despite the home crowd egging on the Punjab cagers, the hosts could not clich the issue. On the other hand Rajasthan maintained their cool to prevail over their rivals. Harshwardhan (25), Rajindra (23) and Bhupindra (22) formed a formidable trio for Rajasthan which let them win the well-fought quarter-final encounter. Gurjit (27) and Dilawar (26) put up their lion's performance but that was not enough for them to extricate Punjab from the jaws of defeat.

Resutls (semi-finals): Girls: Delhi (Akansha 25, Shamin 16, Brinda 21) bt Kerala (Victoria 18, Reshma 17) by 72-56. HT 36-26.

Chattisgarh (Kawljeet 40, Manpreet 8, Pushpa 25) bt Punjab (Sarabjit 22, Harwinder 18, Charajit 11, Manda 13) 86-71. HT 41-20.

9th and 10th places (boys): Chandigarh (Gurvinder 40, Amanjot 25) bt Kerala (Jovin 16, Eudrick 14, Rahul 12) by 86-72. HT 51-46.

11th 12 places: Jharkhand (Mohd Arif 18, Jagjeet 18, Mandhar 17) bt Maharashtra (Shoeb 16, Aniket 12) by 71-65. HT 35-23.

Girls: 9th and 10th places: Karnataka (Reeth 26, Deepa 15, Snehproya 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Pratima 25, Preeti 10, Ranjana 7) by 71-65. HT 33-31.

11th and 12th places: AP (Saritha 20, Anjana 17, Sujatha 10) bt Orissa (Suchitra 11, Satya 10, Jitini 8) by 76-47. HT 40-22.

Late last night resutls: Boys (QF): Rajasthan (Harshwardhan 25, Bhupindra 22, Rajindra 23, Amit 12) bt Punjab (Dilawar 26, Gurjit 27, Sukhjit 10) by 96-84. HT 52-42.

Girls (QF): Kerala (Neena 16, Reshma 14, Victoria 13) bt Maharashtra (Tanvi 20, Malina 11) by 65-52. HT 27-20.

UNI XC SRS RK2245