Senior National Basketball Championship: Maharashtra beat Chhattisgarh 73-54

LUDHIANA: On a day when temperatures dropped as low as six degrees, country's best cagers woke up with a news break of young Maharashtra girls getting past 2013 national champions Chhattisgarh 73-54 in the 70th Senior National Basketball Championship at the Guru Nanak Dev stadium on Sunday.
While young Maharashtra girls brought themselves back on track a day after their 90-point derailment by Railways, the speedsters from Madhya Pradesh scripted another upset with a surprising 68-62 win over last years' women runners-up Tamil Nadu.
Much like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, hosts Punjab women and men from Indian Railways too made their way back in the meet with a win over Karnataka and Rajasthan respectively.
In Maharashtra's 19-point drubbing over last years' semifinalists Chhattisgarh, Anshika Kanojia did the bulk of scoring with a game-high 25 points; Carina Menezes (13) and Suzzane Pinto (16) recorded a respective double by pulling identical 14 rebounds as Shreya Dandekar (6) joined them with timely assists.
In the day's most exciting contest, a team effort helped MP took the experienced bunch of Tamil Nadu cagers by surprise. After taking a handy five-point advantage in the half-time, MP lost the plot as TN fought back to bring the lead down to a point. Regrouping well in time, MP scored a handful of fast-break points in the dying stage for a morale boost six-point win.
Similarly, Punjab women powered their way back with a seven-point (65-58) win over Karnataka. Utilizing their height well, Punjab guards Anmolpreet Kaur (21) and Harsimran Kaur (17) gelled well to share 38 points and take Karnataka in stride.
For the second time in as many days, favourites and six-time defending champions Indian Railways scored a ton. After surviving an early scare, Railways routed Telangana 100-55.
In the men's section lop-sided games were played on the second day. While title challengers Tamil Nadu recorded their second win with a sound 47-point drubbing over Kerala, Indian Railways prevailed over Rajasthan 91-52. Maharashtra men too booked their second successive victory with an easy 62-44 win over West Bengal.
RESULTS (DAY 2)
MEN: Indian Railways (Rajan Sharma 19, Deepak Choudhary 18) bt Rajasthan (Sharad Dadhich 27) 91-52 (21-13, 29-15, 18-12, 23-12); Tamil Nadu (H Moinbek 16, P Jeevanantham 16) b Kerala (Basil Philip 11) 89-42 (20-13, 16-14, 27-10, 26-5); Maharashtra (Siddhant Shinde 20, Sanket Kalbhor 14, Shubham Yadav 10) bt West Bengal (Dheeraj 14, Raghav 11) 62-44 (11-11, 23-14, 21-13, 7-6); Andhra Pradesh (J Tarunkumar 26, G Venkatareddy 25) bt Manipur (CH Tutu 28) 81-57 (19-17, 23-13, 25-12, 14-15); Tamil Nadu (H Moinbek 19) bt Indian Railways (Rajan 25) 87-66 (21-19, 21-18, 19-17, 26-12); Uttrakhand (Vishesh Briguvanshi 29) bt Haryana (Yudhvir Singh 14) 75-53 (11-15, 28-17, 20-9, 16-12).
WOMEN: Madhya Pradesh (Nima Doma Bhutia 25, Anjali Dhasmana 16, Namraata 14) bt Tamil Nadu (R Anbarasi 12, V Srividhya 12) 68-62 (22-20, 14-11, 12-16, 20-15); Maharashtra (Anshika Kanojia 25, Suzzane Pinto 16, Carina Menezes 13, Neha Shahu 11, Shreya Dandekar 6) bt Chhattisgarh (Sangeeta Kaur 18, Nisha Netam 10) 73-54 (18-16, 19-6, 18-13, 18-16); Indian Railways (Shireen Limaye 22, Shruti Menon 16) bt Telangana (Kiran Prajapati 21, Golbsha Ali 13) 100-55 (21-11, 17-20, 36-13, 26-11); Punjab (Anmolpreet Kaur 21, Harsimran Kaur 17) bt Karnataka (Bhoomika 17, Supritha 13) 65-58 (20-20, 18-12, 13-17, 14-9); Chandigarh (Meeru 17) bt Bihar (KC Lithara 21) 63-56 (14-10, 12-13, 20-17, 17-16); Andhra Pradesh (Dhana Lakshmi 8) bt Odisha (B Jayshree 12) 34-31(3-4, 10-9, 10-10, 11-8).