Sub-Jr Nationals: Chhattisgarh girls continue rampage TN Boys blow past Gujarat

INVC,,

Lakhnow,,

It was the last day of the group stage at the 38^th Sub-Jr. National Basketball Championship for Boys & Girls at the RDSO basketball courts in Lucknow, and on Sunday, all of the big guns came out strong to secure a place in the knockout stage of the tournament. Leading the way in the Girls division were reigning champions Chhattisgarh, who got one more comfortable win on Sunday evening against a tricky TN team. TN’s boys had a better day out, as they picked up an important win over Gujarat.

Favourite in the girls’ section, Chhattisgarh took no chances against TN, who have also historically been a strong basketball side. Chhattisgarh made their intent clear early in the game by taking an 11 point lead in the first quarter, and just grew in strength thereafter. The high-scoring side put up 72 points in the game against TN, who could manage only 26. Chhattisgarh were led by Rasmi W., who had 19 points.

In another Girls’ game, last year’s runners-up Karnataka also continued their march towards a comeback with an impressive win over Madhya Pradesh, 34-23. Karnataka were led by their star Lupamudra, who scored half of the team’s points (17). With Karnataka leading just by two points going into the final period, their stars took over and pushed MP away to race to a 10-1 final quarter run and the win.

In the boys’ section, TN used a huge second-quarter spurt to brush aside Gujarat, 67-33. S. Kalidas was the boy of the moment for TN, scoring 27 points for his team, and playing a crucial role in the team’s 22-4 second quarter run. Devsendura added 16 for the winning team.

After beating last year’s winners Rajasthan yesterday, Maharashtra Boys continued their confident start to the championship with a big victory over Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra used a balanced offense to get by AP. MSD Prasad scored 25 big points for AP in an effort to keep his side competitive, but Maharashtra were too strong and won 74-43.

Final Scores

Boys

Maharashtra (Shaikh Zaid 15) bt. Andhra Pradesh (M.S.D.Prasad 25) 74-43 (17-14, 18-6, 22-7, 17-16)

Tamil Nadu (S.Kalidas 27, Devsendura 16) bt. Gujrat 67-33 (20-14, 22-4, 10-7, 15-8)

Orissa (Mahesh 14) bt. Karnataka 30-13 (12-2, 3-2, 4-2, 11-7)

Girls

Maharashtra (Kriti Ranka 12) bt. Andhra Pradesh 40-18 (13-5, 4-6, 4-5, 6-2)

Karnataka (Lopamudra 17) bt. Madhya Pradesh (Divya 10) 34-23 (14-12, 5-3, 5-7, 10-1)

Chhattisgarh (Rasmi W. 19, P. Divya 14, Riya 12) bt. Tamil Nadu 72-26 (19-8, 28-4, 10-6, 15-8)