Rashi Khotani (31 pts) did the star turn as Rajasthan shot back in a brilliant fashion to upset holder Punjab 67-60 in a girls Group-A clash that went the extra-time way in the 36th Youth National basketball championship at the PSG Tech Indoor Stadium courts here on Thursday.
For Punjab, it is its second straight defeat in as many days. It went down by one point to Kerala the other day and looked well on course to win this time around. But, the Rajasthan girls applied the pressure in the fourth quarter and even managed to level scores at 39. From there, the lead kept changing hands and it looked anybody’s game.
Free throws
With the scores locked at 55 and the clock ticking fast, Rajasthan earned a couple of free throws but Rashi failed to convert it to take the game to extra time.
Rajasthan played a bit sensibly during this period to pull off a stunning win. “It was very painful when Rashi missed the throws but she compensated that well with her great show in extra time. She gave her 200% and so did the others,” said Bindu Joshi, Rajasthan’s Head coach.
Rashi was not pleased. “I had the game in my hand but messed it up, she said.
The Kerala girls did not sweat much on its way 73-45 win over Chhattisgarh in the same group.
The results:
Boys: Haryana 66 (Sahil 24, Deepender 13) bt Chhattisgarh 40 (R. Deepak 11, Pranav Sharma 11).
Odisha 59 (Sovan Kumar Pradhan 30, Bala Ram Oram 14, S.K. Fayaz 10) bt Puducherry 52 (Abhay 24, Bharath 10).
Karnataka 65 (Achiniya 26, Manoj 10) bt Delhi 49 (Ashish 14, Juneid 14).
J&K 58 (Tomar 25, Walter 14) bt Goa 49 (Kogaonkar 13, Naik 10).
Andhra 84 (Khaleel Ghouse 27, Sai Babu 23, Pavan Kumar 13) bt Uttarkhand 71 (Ritik Chauitan 26, Vinayak Kumar 10).
Kerala 77 (Pranav Prince 38, Jim Paul 16) bt Madhya Pradesh 55 (Rajesh Tiwari 22, Harsh Singh 17, Virat Dharad 10).
Girls: Rajasthan 67 (Rashi Khotani 31 pts, Ankita Kumari 12) bt Punjab 60 (Harsimran Kaur 36 pts).
West Bengal 60 (Kavena Pal 23, Vaasui Chaudhari 14, Nusarat Khatoon 11) bt Bihar (Muskan 25, Fulvaasui 10).
Assam 46 (Dharitiri Sarania 13, Mayuri Know 11) bt Jharkhand 37 (Jaya Kumari 15).
Maharashtra 67 (Shomira Bidaye 23, Saanvi Gholap 18, Amat Kaur 12) bt Karnataka 63 (Sunishka 37, Sanjana 13).
Andhra 51 (Nooli Anjali 14, Esha Pallavi 12, Bonthu Candini 10) bt Odisha 18 (Sweta 10).
Uttar Pradesh 48 (Akansha Singh 20, Khushboo Gupta 12) bt Madhya Pradesh 30. Haryana 61 (Ankush 22, Ritika 18) bt Gujarat 44 (Naomi 25).
