The Rajasthan men strike a pose after beating Karnataka. Image credits: Basketball Federation of India

Puducherry, 12th January 2017: Quarterfinal action began on Day 6 of the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship here at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry. The first result was no surprise as Chhattisgarh booked a semi-final berth winning their game against Delhi. Poonam Chaturvedi put up another MVP type performance with 60 points in the game. Chhattisgarh’s strategy was simple – put the ball in Poonam’s hands in the post and she took care of the rest. Delhi was unable to contain the Chhattisgarh centre and fell to a 99-67 loss. Delhi captain Raspreet Sidhu put up 27 points.

Earlier in the day, on the outdoor courts, the Madhya Pradesh women’s team qualified for the quarterfinals with a tight win against Rajasthan (77-74). MP’s Sikkim import Nima Doma Bhutia was on fire pouring in 24 points in the game, including 9 straight down the stretch. Her teammate Namrata Huda scored the last four points to put her team up by 3 and close out the game. MP will have an uphill task against defending champions Indian Railways in the quarterfinals.

In the other women’s pre-quarterfinal, Karnataka fell to a spirited Maharashtra side in another nail-biter of a contest. Maharashtra’s international player Shireen Limaye was the difference between the two teams as she took over the game in the second half. Her 34 points in the game included 20 second-half points that kept her team in the contest. A couple of clutch triples by her teammate Rupali Tripathi (12 points) gave Maharashtra a 1-point lead, downing Karnataka 62-61. Maharashtra will face Kerala in the quarterfinals.

Quarter finals action from Telangana vs Tamil Nadu in the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship. Image credits: Basketball Federation of India

Telangana have entered the semi-finals of the Senior Nationals for the second year in a row with an 81-70 win against Tamil Nadu. R. Ramya and M. Gayatri combined for 58 points. Tamil Nadu attempted a late comeback, but it was not enough, as Telangana built an insurmountable lead in the first 3 quarters.

In the men’s pre-quarterfinals, Rajasthan and Haryana sealed quarterfinal berths with victories against Gujarat and Odisha respectively. Rajasthan will take on Karnataka in the quarters, while Haryana will square off against last year’s finalists Uttarakhand, later in the day.

The first men’s quarterfinal of the day saw Punjab shake off its poor run to put on its best performance of the tournament against the Indian Railways. The first half was a close affair with both teams putting up an offensive show. Railways centre Gagandeep Singh remained consistent down low, putting up 25 points in the game. For Punjab, forward Gurvinder Singh Gill (20 points) was effective in the post against the big Railways frontcourt. But in the second half, former India international TJ Sahi (27 points) came out all guns blazing and took over the game. The Railways team were unable to contain his drives and transition play as he turned the game on its head, giving Punjab a double-digit lead. He was ably assisted by guards Rajveer Singh (27 points) and Arshpreet Bhullar (22 points), who maintained Punjab’s 10+ point lead with timely buckets. Despite winning only one league game, Punjab has managed to qualify for the semi-finals where they hope to continue the momentum from this performance.

In the evening session, Kerala women trounced Maharashtra by over 40 points (73-30). Kerala had too much firepower for Maharashtra as they jumped onto an 18-2 lead in the first quarter. It was cruise control for Kerala the rest of the way. India international Jeena Scaria top scored with 22 points for Kerala.

The third men’s quarterfinal produced an unlikely semi-finalist in Rajasthan, who upset Group A toppers Karnataka. After working hard to get to Level 1, Rajasthan shone on the big stage, playing as a cohesive unit. They had a strong first quarter, but Karnataka fought back in the second and third periods. Karnataka displayed poor defense, giving a lot of open shots to Rajasthan, who moved the ball well throughout the game. Almost all Rajasthan players on the floor had the ability to shoot the ball from outside and their shooting percentages today were on point. A dominant fourth quarter sealed the deal for Rajasthan who closed out on an 83-70 win. They will face Tamil Nadu tomorrow in the semi-final.

In the last quarterfinals, Uttarakhand men made short work of Haryana, 60-35, in a one sided contest. Uttarakhand’s star studded line up showed their experience to progress to the semis.

Results from 12th January 2017 up to 8 pm

Libina MJ of Indian Railways works the low post during their quarter finals match against Madhya Pradesh. Image credits: Basketball Federation of India

WOMEN

Quarterfinals:

  1. Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 60, Sharanjeet Kaur 9, Sangeeta Kaur 9) bt Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 27, Sushantika 23, Vinti 12) 99-67 (27-18, 24-16, 24-14, 14-19)
  2. Telangana (R. Ramya 34, M. Gayatri 24) bt Tamil Nadu (R. Varshanandini 29, V. Srividhya 11, KK Sruthi 11) 81-70 (23-15, 22-19, 26-13, 10-23)
  3. Indian Railways (Sruthi Menon 17, Madhu Kumari 13, Anjana Daisy Ekka 12) bt Madhya Pradesh (Nima Doma Bhutia 19, Namrata Huda 17) 95-46 (22-4, 23-18, 27-9, 23-15)
  4. Kerala (Jeena PS 22, Poojamol 12, Anjana PG 11) bt Maharashtra (Sakshi Arora 10, Rachel Netto 6, Ketaki Takale 5) 73-30 (18-2, 12-13, 25-5, 18-10)

Pre-Quarterfinals:

  1. Madhya Pradesh (Nima Doma Bhutia 24, Sakshi Pandey 16) bt Rajasthan (Nisha 32) 77-74 (16-14, 19-17, 21-22, 21-21)
  2. Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 34, Rupali Tripathi 12) bt Karnataka (Priyanka P. 22, Bhandavya Gowda 16) 62-61 (15-12, 17-14, 15-19, 15-16)

Prasanna Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu beats his defender and goes up and under during their game against Kerala in the Quarter Finals. Image credits: Basketball Federation of India

MEN:

Quarterfinals:

  1. Punjab (Talwinder Jit Singh Sahi 27, Rajveer Singh 27, Arshpreet Bhullar 22, Gurvinder Singh 20) bt Indian Railways (Gagandeep Singh 25, Himanshu Sharma 20, Vijender Kumar 13, Palpreet Singh 10) 101-83 (21-23, 29-20, 20-18, 31-22)
  2. Tamil Nadu (P. Jeevanantham 17, G. Siva Balan 11, Prasanna Venkatesh 9, Pratham Singh 9) bt Kerala (Alvin Baby 19, Ajeeth Sugunan 10, Gineeb Binny 8) 72-52 (21-10, 19-8, 15-18, 17-16)
  3. Rajasthan (Bharatdeep 23, Vinod Kumar 17, Loon Singh 13, Sharad 13) bt Karnataka (Anil Kumar 21, Arvind Arumugam 19, Navin 12) 83-70 (21-12, 14-19, 23-26, 25-13)
  4. Uttarakhand (Trideep Rai 17, Amritpal Singh 10) bt Haryana (Pardeep Chauhan 14) 60-35 (30-10, 19-14, 2-5, 9-6)

Pre-Quarterfinals:

  1. Rajasthan (Sharad Dadhich 25, Vinod Kumar 22, Bharatdeep Singh 11) bt Gujarat (Shafiq Shaikh 19, Harpal Sinh 12, Indervijaysinh Gohil 9) 83-64 (27-14, 18-13, 17-21, 21-16)
  2. Haryana (Vikas Kumar 19, Pardeep Chauhan 17) bt Odisha (Ashok Kumar Nayak 21, Sahid Khan 12) 73-63 (18-20, 21-24, 22-8, 12-11)

Results from 11th January 2017 after 8 pm

Kerala scores an easy bucket against Maharashtra. Image credits: Basketball Federation of India

WOMEN:

Level 1:

Group B:

  1. Kerala (Jeena PS 24) bt Tamil Nadu (R. Varshanandhini 11, KK Sruthi 10) 57-37 (19-12, 20-7, 13-6, 5-12)

MEN:

Level 1:

Group B:

  1. Uttarakhand (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 26, Amritpal Singh 11, Trideep Rai 10) bt Indian Railways (Gagandeep Singh 14, Palpreet Singh 12, Vijender Kumar 8) 71-55 (18-9, 8-11, 19-18, 26-17)

Winner decides opponent in Pre-Quarterfinal:

  1. Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 25, Bharatdeep Singh 20) bt Odisha (K. Sravan Kumar 14, Sahid Khan 9) 69-43 (25-19, 19-4, 20-9, 5-11)

For results of Day 5, please click here

Team Ekalavyas
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