Kerala edged out by Karnataka 65-63

Gujarat's trio defeated Punjab in basketball quarterfinals. Kerala girls missed top 10 for the first time. Kerala men reached pre-quarterfinals. Maharashtra won against Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh emerged victorious over Punjab and Delhi for pool A leadership

Aahana George, Niyatiba Gohil and Archi Patel played well in tandem as girls from Gujarat surprised mighty Punjab 92-79 to enter the quarterfinals of the 74th junior national basketball championship at the Emerald Heights International School in Indore on Saturday. While Gujarat women recorded their biggest victory in any age-category national championship, their men missed the qualifying bus to Maharashtra.

The Gujarat trio of Aahana (29), Niyatiba (24) and Archi Patel (22) shared 75 of the 92 points scored by their team.

The day, however, brought tears in the eyes of young Kerala girls after the speedsters from Karnataka won a thrilling contest 65-63 to relegate India’s factory of women cagers from God's own Country to the lower pool. For the first time in the 74-year history of basketball in India, Kerala girls will not finish among the top-10 performers in any nationals.

Kerala men found the lanky lads from Punjab too tough to handle and lost their last league game by seven points (65-72). With this defeat Kerala somehow managed to stay in contention as they finished fourth in the group and qualified for the pre-quarterfinals.

With this win Punjab powered their way to the quarterfinals with Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh. In a thrilling game played late on Friday, Uttar Pradesh edged out Punjab 80-79 with the quarter-wise scores of 24-19, 24-13, 20-19, 12-28. On Saturday afternoon, holders UP thrashed Delhi 94-79 to emerge as the pool A toppers.

The southern derby between Karnataka and Kerala was a battle of survival. Karnataka girls rallied splendidly and played a dominant last quarter to clinch their quarterfinal spot with a two-point (65-63) win. For the winners, Aadhya Gowda (15), Tanusree Tarun (14) and Aditi Subramaniam (14) played well. The quarter-wise progress for Karnataka read 14-11, 6-13, 22-21, 23-18.

The qualifying game in the men’s section between Maharashtra and Gujarat was a lopsided contest. Yogesh Yadav (25) and Raghav Sharma (24) did the bulk of the scoring as Maharashtra drubbed Gujarat 95-61 and made their entry into the upper pool after a gap of two years.

RESULTS (Day 4)

WOMEN: Karnataka (Aadhya Gowda 15, Tanusree Tarun 14, Aditi Subramaniam 14) bt Kerala (Amanda Maria Rocha 20, Feba Fatima 10) 65-63 (14-11, 6-13, 22-21, 23-18); Gujarat (Aahana George 29, Niyatiba Gohil 24, Archi Patel 22) bt Punjab (Komalpreet Kaur 26, Nadar Dhillon 16, Gagndeep Kaur 12, Krishanpreet Kaur Mangat 10) 92-79 (21- 17, 33-24, 24-18, 14-19); Madhya Pradesh (Gunni Agrawal 30, Khushi Pal Singh 23) bt Tamil Nadu (M Thejasri 22) 83-71 (19-13, 18-21, 20-22, 26-15); Uttar Pradesh (Sakshi Saini 20, Anushika Chouhan 16) bt Chhattisgarh (Ishika Singh 14) 66-43 (8-15, 18-10, 22-7, 18-11); Maharashtra (Aanaya Bhavsar 38, Twvisha Sharma 18) bt Uttar Pradesh (Anushka Chauhan 21, Ruby Rajput 16) 84-71 (14-24, 22-14, 23-18, 25-15);

MEN: Uttar Pradesh (Jatin 25, Vedansh Ranot 21, Harshit Tomar 21, Kunal Kumar Singh 18 ) bt Delhi (Harsh 26, Sahil Dhaka24, Anshuman Singh 18) 94-79 (31-24, 13-21, 27- 18, 23-16); Tamil Nadu (Harish Aravind 18, Abhinmanyu 16, Mithunvel 15) bt Andra Pradesh (Muhammed Shakeel 12) 100-42 (25-17, 18-16, 31-9, 26-0); Rajasthan (Ajay Kumar 15, Nitesh Kumar 13) bt Odisha (Saifuddin Shaikh 11) 68-26 (30-1, 16-4, 14-6, 8-5); Maharashtra (Yogesh Yadav 25, Raghav Sharma 24) bt Gujarat (Jigrajsinh Gohil 17) 95-61 (21-16, 31-15, 22-17, 21-13); Uttar Pradesh (Vedant Ranot 19, Jatin 18) bt Punjab (Ujjwal 20, Harjeet Singh 14) 80-79 (24-19, 24-13, 20-19, 12-28); Chandigarh (Gaurav Kumar 32, Ravinder Kaushik 23) bt Delhi (Anshuman Singh 17, Kismat 16, Sahil Dhaka 12, Kunal Kumar 10) 98-73 (27-20, 20-16, 16-21, 35-16); Punjab (Sahibijit Singh 25, Jaddu Man 14, Amandeep Singh 13, Ujwal 12) bt Kerala 65 (Niyukth Salil 18. Vinay Sankar 14, Jins Joby 12) 72-65 (18-16, 14-18, 12-20, 28-11).

Punjab pip holders TN to face Maharashtra in semis; Hosts Madhya Pradesh teams enter last four

Punjab's Komalpreet Kaur and Nadar Dhillon led the team to victory against Tamil Nadu in the women's basketball championship. Multiple teams secured spots in the semifinals with impressive wins, setting the stage for intense upcoming matches.

Komalpreet Kaur and Nadar Dhillon shared 41 points as Punjab edged out defending champions Tamil Nadu 76-74 to face Maharashtra in the women's semifinals of the 74th junior national basketball championship at the Emerald Heights International School in Indore on Sunday.

Hosts Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka completed the women's semifinal line-up with facile victories. While the home team made light work of Haryana 73-58 to square up against Karnataka in the other semifinal.

In lop-sided quarterfinals, Karnataka drubbed Gujarat 90-56 as Maharashtra defeated Telangana by as many as 53 points (93-40).

In the most exciting women's quarterfinal, Punjab girls kept their cool in the dying stage to send defending champions Tamil Nadu packing in a thriller. Lanky Punjab guard Komalpreet utilized her height well to fire a game-high 24 points as Nadar (17) and Chanda Gouttam (15) played pivotal roles with timely conversion. For Tamil Nadu, Daisy Evangeline (21) and Shajitha Noorul (18) played their hearts out but fell short.

While Punjab took a handy five-point lead by winning the first quarter, both the teams netted 18 points each in the second. After the break, Punjab stretched their lead to seven points by pocketing the third period 17-15. Though TN girls outclassed Punjab in the last quarter 24-19 they fell short marginally by two points.

The men's quarterfinals brought the excitement back on the courts as the three remaining women's games were rather lop-sided contests.

In the first game, Chandigarh played a dominant third quarter to get the better of Tamil Nadu in a high scoring quarterfinal 91-83 with Himanshu Hooda (23) and Gaurav Kumar Singh (16) doing the bulk of the scoring.

Defending champions, Uttar Pradesh utilized their size well to record a come-from-behind 83-72 victory over Haryana. Uttar Pradesh will face the challenge of Rajasthan in the semifinals. The lanky speedsters from Rajasthan took a handy 16-point lead at the halfway mark to thrash Punjab by 22 points. Mohammad Ishan (31) led from the front with a game-high 31 points.

In the last men's quarterfinal, hosts Madhya Pradesh defeated Kerala 80-66 to meet Chandigarh in the semifinal.

RESULTS (Day 5)

WOMEN (QUARTERFINALS): Punjab (Komalpreet Kaur 24, Nadar Dhillon 17) bt Tamil Nadu (Daisy Evangeline 21, Shajitha Noorul 18) 76-74 (22-17, 18-18, 17-15, 19-24); Maharashtra (Gunjan Mantri 22, Aanaya Bhavsar 20) bt Telangana (YS Parinisthaa 11) 93-40 (25-9, 19-17, 23-7, 26-7);

Karnataka (Aadhya Gowda 22, Aditi Subramanian 19) bt Gujarat (Aahana George 15) 90- 56 (18-16, 21-12, 20-13, 31-15); Madhya Pradesh (Khushi Pal Singh 24, Gunvi Agrawal 17) bt Haryana (Khushbu 15) 73-58 (24-14, 17-13, 19-16, 13-15); PREQUARTERFINALS: Telangana (Nethra Birudavolu 21) bt Rajasthan (Payal 12) 61-54 (15- 10, 20-15, 5-17, 21-12); Haryana (Bhumi Kajaria 17) bt Uttar Pradesh (Ruby Rajput 23) 68-61 (14-12, 19-417, 18-12, 17-20).

MEN (QUARTERFINALS): Chandigarh (Himanshu Hooda 23, Gaurav Kumar Singh 16) bt Tamil Nadu (Vel Mirjhun 23) 91-83 (22-20, 21-25, 22-15, 26-23);

Uttar Pradesh (Vedant Ranot 20) bt Haryana (Lavish 22) 83-72 (17-20, 18-21, 23-17, 25-14); Rajasthan (Mohammad Ishan 31, Ajay Kumar 16) bt Punjab (Jaddu Maan 23) 91-69 (23-22, 20-5, 20-19, 28-23); PRE-QUARTERFINALS: Kerala (Ashwin Krishna 24) bt Maharashtra (Raghav Sharma 19) 81-78 (23-6, 13-20, 17-28, 28-24); Haryana (Priyam Rathee 30) bt Andhra Pradesh (Akhil Kumar 22) 97-88 (20-29, 22-25, 24-20, 31-14)

Courtesy ; Amit Sampat - TNN