Karnataka triumph

 Karnataka’s girls team emerged champions at the 67th Junior National Basketball Championships that concluded at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Coming into the final on the back of a commendable run, the Karnataka girls ensured that they kept their composure at crucial moments to beat rivals Tamil Nadu 64-44 in the summit tie.

Well prepared to take the challenge to the opposition, the Karnataka outfit banked on their air tight defence to keep Tamil Nadu at bay while their shooters ensured the scoreboard kept ticking. Adopting a zonal defence in the opening quarter, Karnataka did manage prevent their rivals from penetrating into the paint, but the Tamil Nadu outfit -- led by Srishti -- hardly faced any trouble as they scored at will from behind the arc to take a slender 16-14 lead.

That the was the only time Tamil Nadu enjoyed the upper hand in the game as Karnataka, led by their Indian international Bhandavya HM, soon shifted to woman-to-woman marking to take the game to the opposition. Their high-pressure defence forced the Tamil Nadu players into many turnovers which led to easy transition baskets, many of which were converted by Bhandavya.

Later, though, Tamil Nadu switched to a full court attack, nothing seemed to go their way as Karnataka ran out comfortable winners.

Tamil Nadu boys win

Hari Ram and Bala scored 29 and 19 points respectively as Tamil Nadu defeated Kerala in the boy’s title clash.

Results: Final: Boys: Tamil Nadu: 88 (Hari Ram 29, Bala 19) bt Kerala: 77 (Shiras 23, Prem 22).

Girls: Karnataka: 64 (Bhandavya 29, Priyanka 10) bt Tamil Nadu: 44 (Srishti 8).