BENGALURU: Teamwork and coordination remained India’s biggest takeaways against debutants Nepal as the hosts sealed a 106-37 win to begin their quest for promotion to Division A with gumption in the
FIBA
U-16 Women’s Asian Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium courts here on Sunday.
On the eve of the championship, coach
Zoran Visic
had stressed on the need for his new-look Indian squad to find the right combination early, given their limited preparations for the event. Against Nepal, who were making their first-ever appearance in a FIBA championship, India’s man-to-man defence and scoring in transition helped the hosts get a morale boosting win ahead of tougher opponents such as Malaysia and Kazakhstan, who they will face in the knockouts.
Forward Vaishnavi Yadav’s game-high 23 points and centre Pushpa Senthil Kumar’s brilliant double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) were the cynosure as four players scored in double figures. The loudest cheers, however, were reserved for Karnataka’s
Sanjana Ramesh
, who was making her India debut as captain.
Nepal’s biggest drawback remained their height. At 5’0, point guard Nilam Sherpa had no chance of dictating play against India’s centretrio - Sanjana (5’11”), Pushpa (5’10”) and the 6’1” Ann Mary Zachariah. India raked in 45 points in turnovers as the hosts never looked back from a 49-16 lead at the break.
Results: Division ‘B’: India 106 (Vaishnavi Yadav 23, Pushpa Senthil Kumar 18, Monica Jayakumar 13, Neha Karwa 10) beat Nepal 37 (
Pratikshya Magar
11); Malaysia 130 (Lai Toong Tan 15,
Shi Yu Lim
15, Zi Wei Wong 13, Siew Hong Yap 12, Edna Lee 15, J Lim 10) beat Maldives 14
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