Basketball nationals: Karnataka defeats TN, tops group

Karnataka topped Group-A with an all-win record while Tamil Nadu finished fourth in the Group, and but still has a chance to enter the quarterfinals.

Bhandavvya H.M. (red) of Karanataka in action against Tamil Nadu at the 68th Senior Nationals Women's Basketball Championship, in Chennai on Sunday.

It was always going to be a tall order for Tamil Nadu against an in-form Karnataka and the match went according to the script as the host went down 83-67 in the women’s section of the 68th Senior National basketball championships, at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Karnataka topped Group-A with an all-win record while Tamil Nadu finished fourth in the Group, and but still has a chance to enter the quarterfinals.

From the lower pool (Level-II), UP defeated West Bengal 68-62, and is expected to choose Telangana (it finished fourth in Group-B), which has fielded a depleted side, in the pre-quarterfinals. In that case, West Bengal will play Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, defending champion Uttarakhand eased past Rajasthan 77-55 in a men’s Group-A contest and ended its engagements by finishing second behind Karnataka in the Group. Uttarakhand will take on Punjab in the quarterfinals.

Trailing 14-18 in the first quarter, TN women reduced the margin by a point in the second (35-36). It was at its best in the second and briefly in the third scoring two-pointers at a relatively quick pace.

However, midway in the fourth quarter, Karnataka raced past TN as Roshini Rosa Johan and Priyanka upped the ante. There was no looking back then. Skipper Bandhawaya led from the front basketing 30 points.

The results:

Level-I:

Group A: Uttarakhand 77 (Yadwinder Singh 24, R. Murli Krishnan 13, Amandeep Singh 10, Arjun Singh 13 bt Rajasthan 55 (Saurabh Badaya 16, Vinod Kumar 11).

Group B: Gujarat 94 (Harpal 16, Dhaval Ulva 13, Vinay 11, Vivek Goti 14, M. Kasi Rajan 26) bt Haryana 65 (Vineet Nehra 14, Deepak Rathi 19, Vikas Kumar 13); Indian Railways 88 (Gagandeep Singh 26, Himanshu Sharma 17) bt Punjab 81 (Satnam Singh 23, Jagdeep Singh 15).

Women: Group A: Karnataka 83 (Bhandawaya 30, P. Priyanka 12, Roshini Rosa John 12) bt Tamil Nadu 67 (Vandana Arya 12); Kerala 62 (Grima Merlin Verghese 11, P.S. Jeena 25, Annesha Cleetus 14) bt Madhya Pradesh 34 (Nima Doma Bhutiya 15).

Group B: Delhi 78 (Akansha Singh 16, Raspreet Sidhu 17, Pratima Singh 13) bt Rajasthan 37 (Nisha Sharma 12, Kamlesh Taragi 16); Maharashtra 76 (Susan Pinto 15, Mugdha Amarotkar 11) bt Telangna 35 (Manasa 21).