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Puducherry, 12th January 2017: Kerala women had sailed safely in the Semifinals As they drubbed Maharastra 72-52 to face Chattaissgargh while the Men bow out of the quarterfinals with a loss over Tamil Nadu with the score 52-72 here on the on Day 6 of the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship here at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry.

In the omen quarter-final Kerala had an easy start of 18-2 lead hen the first quarter ends and Scoring was lead by Jeena P S scoring 18 points followed by Poojamol and Grima making 12 points each Now the fate in the Semi final will depends upon how they block 6 ft 11 inches Poonam Chaturvedi in absence of International Stephy Nixon and in their last match in League defeated Tamil Nadu

Earlier 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 center 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 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.

Telangana has 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 center 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.
Detailed Results
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.Kerala -73(Jeena PS 22,, Poojamol PS12,Anjanna P G 11) bt Maharastra-52(sakshi Arora10
4.Indian Railways – 96(Sruthimenon19,Anjanna ekka 12, Preethi Kumari12,MadhuKumari10) bt Madhya Pradesh -46(Nima Doma19 namrata 17)

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)

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 -72(sivabalan11,ratham Singh9,Prasanna90) bt Kerla -52(Albin Baby19,Ajeeth Sugunan10)

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)

WOMEN: League yesterday Late Match: 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)