Mixed fortunes for Maharashtra at Youth National Basketball

NAGPUR: On a day of fluctuating fortunes, Maharashtra outplayed the girls from Capital city 82-37 while boys flattered only to deceive against the fast Delhi boys allowing the latter to register their second successive victory (81-67) on Day 2 of the 28th Youth National Basketball Championship at the Indoor Stadium of Divisional Sports Complex here on Friday.
The hosts' boys may have been guilty of employing a wrong strategy vis-a-vis their man-to-man marking and substitutions as they blew off their second quarter flurry to go down in the last 13 minutes of the match.
For starters, Delhi was seemingly in control as they took the first quarter 21-16. However, Maharashtra boys regrouped almost immediately to wrest the second 16-11 and level the scores. After the change of ends, Delhi regained control of the match racing to a crucial 3-point lead in the third quarter while raised their play in the final period, winning 28-17 to snatch the game away from the hosts outfit.
Leading from the front and setting an example Delhi point guard Narender Kumar fired as many as 34 points, converting almost all his attempts he took, for a facile 14-point triumph over Maharashtra. Salman Malik (29) played well for Maharashtra.
Home team in the girls' section, the favourites lived up to their reputation as they overcame a spirited effort from Delhi prevailing 82-37 to register their second successive victory.
On a pleasant evening, Maharashtra girls maintained their lead in all the quarters and rode mainly on the brilliance of skipper Shireen Limaye, who scored a game-high 30 points and also took 17 rebounds. She got an able support from her Pune teammates Kritika Limaye and Sruthi Menon, both of them shared 26 points between them to give the hosts a superb 45-point victory. For Delhi, Riddhi Soni (14) and Aastha Tandon (12) played well.
Earlier, Haryana girls gave a furious display of their speed and accurate shooting to cause another upset in the championship when they stunned Tamil Nadu 53-43. A day after they surprised last years' runners-up Uttar Pradesh, it was the turn of the bronze medallist of previous edition to get a taste of Haryana's speed.
For the winners, Rimpy Hooda (20), Bharti Sihag (14) and Monika Vats (11) combined well while R Selvamira and S Hema contributed 13 and 12 points for Tamil Nadu.
In the boys section, defending champions and contenders Punjab prevailed over Tamil Nadu 79-58 to give a rousing start to their campaign. In an exciting clash, Gujarat got the better of Himachal Pradesh 82-71 in extra time after both the teams netted 69 points at regulation. Mithilesh Kumar emerged the top scorer for Gujarat with an excellent show in extra time to guide his side to an 11-point victory. Mithilesh scored 24 points while a valiant 30-point effort of Sahil Bali for Himachal Pradesh went in vain.
In another game, Kaasper Singh and S Priya Kumar shared 50 points between them as Manipur hoopsters downed Bihar 69-60.
Last year's runners-up Chhattisgarh survived Andhra scare, winning marginally 59-54.
RESULTS (DAY 2)
Girls: Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 30, Kritika Limaye 15, Srithi Menon 11) bt Delhi (Riddhi Soni 14, Aastha Tandon 12) 82-37 (24-17, 31-6, 9-10, 18-4); Orissa (Anita Das 11, Sibani Sahoo 11) bt Chandigarh (Rani 8, Ijeoma 8) 41-30 (16-4, 11-6, 8-12, 6-8); Jharkhand (Barkha Kacchap 10, Jwarna Hembram 7, Priya Kumari 6) bt Gujarat (Mirali 11, Nikita Behal 6, Meghna 5) 37-34 (16-6, 4-10, 5-10, 12-8); Karnataka (Manjula 15, Karishma Rajan 13, Praneetha 8) bt Punjab (Nirmal Kaur 16, Samriti 11, Kulwinder Kaur 10) 64-43 (24-7, 13-6, 19-15, 8-13); Haryana (Rimpy Hooda 20, Bharti Sihag 14, Monika Vats 11) bt Tamil Nadu (R Selvamira 13, S Hema 12, R Niranjana 7) 53-43 (13-12, 11-9, 13-14, 16-8); Uttar Pradesh (Anjali Swami 13, Garima Singh 12) bt Uttarakhand (Biya Sidhu 3) 54-13 (13-3, 11-7, 20-2,10-1);
Boys: Delhi (Narender Kumar 34, Pawan Kumar 16) bt Maharashtra (Salman Malik 29, Ibrahim Sheikh 16) 81-67 (21-16, 11-16, 21-18, 28-17); Gujarat (Mithilesh 24, Kush 14, Sunny 11) bt Himachal Pradesh (Sahil Bali 30, Rohit 14, Augad 7) 82-71 (in extra time) (13-17, 18-10, 17-25, 21-17, ET 13-2); Chattisgarh (Tarendra K 16, Akash 8) bt Andhra Pradesh (Balaji 16, Srinath 11) 59-54 (13-12, 18-2, 8-19, 20-21); Manipur (Y Kaasper Singh 30, S Priya Kumar 20, Babloo Singh 8) bt Bihar (Abhijeet Yadav 20, Dheeraj Ranjan 21, Mohammad Anzar 12) 69-60 (21-10, 14-15, 18-9, 16-18); Punjab (Loveneet Singh 23, Hemant Sabharwal 15) bt Tamil Nadu (B Vimalraj 26, Kartikeyan 14) 79-58 (24-12, 21-12, 23-3, 11-31).