With three impressive straight victories in the league, the Tamil Nadu women's team had created a lot of expectations.
It took Delhi, a far better team in all aspects, just one quarter to put the host in its place in a Group ‘B' contest of the Senior National basketball championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Monday.
The final 75-48 verdict was chiefly orchestrated by three sisters — Internationals Akansha Singh, Pratima Singh and Prashanti Singh.
Akansha was impeccable in shooting two-pointers with a success rate of 71 per cent while Pratima excelled in defensive rebounds.
Prashanti Singh, too, played a crucial role in defensive rebounds. The three sisters alone contributed 51 points.
Tamil Nadu couldn't find a way to subdue them. Add to its woes, the shooting was wayward and defence was pathetic allowing Akansha and Sonika Ohylan to score at regular intervals.
Pivot M. Apoorva, forwards Sunitha Suren and Meenalatha were perhaps overawed by Delhi's stars.
Tamil Nadu trailed throughout — 5-25 in the first quarter, 18-45 in the second and 32-63 in the third.
First defeat
In a Group ‘B' men's tie, Delhi suffered its first defeat, losing to Services 81-53. Joginder Singh is a giant in everything but height. On Monday, he stood high with his wonderful conversion of three-pointers — eight in all.
The top-scorer (26 points) excelled in offensive rebounds, too. Narender Kumar Grewal kept scoring his two-pointers and was involved in lot of assists.
Delhi held the upperhand in the first quarter (15-14) with Pravin Doval shooting consistently.
After having conceded the lead in the second, Delhi forced itself in the third, but by then Services had taken a comfortable lead and was diligent in protecting it.
The Tamil Nadu men's team has been quite impressive in the league. The 76-47 victory over Andhra Pradesh, its third straight win in the league, has proved that the team has jelled well as a unit so far.
In a Group ‘B' match, Punjab continued its good show with a 75-59 win over Chhattisgarh.
The results:
Men: Level I: Group ‘A': Kerala 91 (Ajeeth Sugunan 22, Ajith VG 18, Abhilash T.S. 14, R. Manoj 12) bt Uttar Pradesh 49 (Ankur Anand Singh 13, Bhanu Pratap Singh 12); TN 76 (Saravana Rajan 18, Mihir Pandey 12, Rikin Pethani 18, Pratham Singh 16) bt AP 47 (C.H. Naveen Kumar 12, S.V. Kumar Yadav 12). ‘B': Services 81 (Joginder Singh 26, Narender Kumar Grewal 24, Parveen Kumar 14) bt Delhi 53 (Pravin Doval 19); Punjab 75 (Talwinderjit Singh 15, Amritpal Singh (Jr.) 22, Ranbir Singh 12) bt Chhattisgarh 59 (Ankit Panigrahi 10, Ajay Pratap Singh 20, Kiran Pal Singh 14).
Level II: ‘E': Madhya Pradesh (Jaynesh Patel 20, Jetandra Patidar 12) bt Bihar (Manvendra 14).
‘F': Maharashtra 72 (Siddhant 26, Gurucharna 11, Arjun 10) bt Assam 65 (Vinod 29, Virender 19).
Women:
Level I: Group ‘A': Madhya Pradesh 67 (Deepika David 14, Pranjul Upadhyay 14) bt Punjab 65 (Kiranjit Kaur 22, Nagma Mirza 11); Indian Railways 72 (Geethu Anna Jose 24, P. Anita 11, Renjini Peter 11, Anju Lakra 17) bt Chhattisgarh 60 (Aakansha Singh 12, L. Deepa 10, Kavita 18).
‘B': Delhi 75 (Akansha Singh 21, Sonika Ohylan 18, Pratima Singh 17, Prashanti Singh 13) bt TN 48 (Apoorva 12). Kerala 78 (Lizy Mathew 20, Ashey Mathew 19, Athira 12) bt Andhra Pradesh 52 (Manda Meshram 16, Aashna Ujwaney 15).
Level II: ‘C': Karnataka 69 (Victoria Brijita 14, Sandhya 13) bt HP 30.
