Uttar Pradesh girls became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the 42nd Sub Junior National Basketball Championship here today, trouncing Rajasthan 53-33.
The Haryana girls also booked a spot in the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 55-52 victory over Telangana.
Haryana relied on teamwork and contributions from multiple players to clinch the close victory. They will face last year's runners-up Chhattisgarh.
In the boys' pre-quarterfinals, Andhra Pradesh walloped Karnataka 79-32. For AP, consistent scorers Md Ghouse Mohiddin (26 points) and A Sai Pawan Kumar (22) did the star turn.
AP will next take on defending champions Madhya Pradesh.
Maharashtra boys also dominated Kerala, defeating them 81-54, led by Raza Shaikh's 21 points, to set up a quarterfinal clash against Chhattisgarh.
Earlier in the day, the quarterfinals began with Rajasthan and Haryana facing each other for a semifinal spot.
Rajasthan began well and maintained their lead that grew to double digits at the end of the thirdquarter. In the final quarter, Haryana attempted a late comeback, but Rajasthan held on to register an eight-point victory at 64-56.
Uttar Pradesh boys also booked a place in the semis, edging past Odisha in a high-scoring, tight contest. Led by Aniket's 20 points and Priyanshu's 19, UP pulled away from their rivals in the final minutes to win at 79-73.
The first girls' quarterfinals saw defending champions Kerala take on Madhya Pradesh. Kerala took an early lead but MP fought back and the scores were tied at the end of the second as well as the third periods.
In the fourth, MP put their foot on the pedal and ran away with the game, outscoring Kerala by 10 points and pulling off a 43-33 win. Shweta Verma top scored for MP with 14 points.
Maharashtra girls continued their good run, making it to the semifinals with a win against Karnataka. The winners' most consistent player and tournament top scorer Shruti Bhosale scored 26 points to lead her side to a 77-62 victory.
Last year's runner up Chhattisgarh girls faced Haryana later in the day and outplayed them. Elijabet Ekka sunk in 30 points as Chattisgarh cruised to a 76-32 win.
Results: Girls: Quarterfinals:
Madhya Pradesh(Shweta Verma 14, Anam Abbas 11) bt Kerala (Haleema Jan 12, Krishna Priya 11)43-33; Maharashtra(Shruti Govind Bhosale 26, Siva Shreesa Deodhar 12) btKarnataka(Maya Manoj Krishna 17, Pavitra Jalapur 7) 77-62; Chattisgarh (Elijabet Ekka 30, Poonam Nayak 11, Sanskriti Singh 11) btHaryana(Ritika 23)76-32
Pre-quarterfinals:
Uttar Pradesh(Muskan M 14, Anushka S 10) bt Rajasthan(Simran B. 14)53-33; Haryana(Anjali 12, Neeru 8) btTelangana(Lasya ST 13, Dhathi ND 12)55-52.
Loser Knockout Semifinals:
Chandigarh(Gurleen Kaur 28, Prachi Bhatia 12) btAndhra Pradesh(V Venkata 19)52-50; Punjab(Sukhmandeep Kaur 19, Subpreet 10) btGujarat(Tisha J 6)55-19.
Level 1 to Level 2 (for 2017):
Delhi(Bharti 11, Kritika Dhingra 9) btWest Bengal (Aishani Das 7)44-27.
Boys: Quarterfinals:
Rajasthan(Mohammad 16, Jaiveer 14) btHaryana(Hardeep 16, Vikash 12)64-56;Uttar Pradesh (Aniket 20, Priyanshu 19) bt Odisha(Saurav Sahoo 20, Tulu Patra 20)79-73; Madhya Pradesh(Jeet Kharwar 21, Manish Prasad 21) btAndhra Pradesh(A Sai Pawan Kumar 36)80-59;Chhattisgarh(Sandeep 30, Rishab 17) btMaharashtra(Raza Shaikh 15,S Mudassir 14)88-60.
Pre-quarterfinals:
Maharashtra(Raza Shaikh 21, Saad Shaikh 16) bt Kerala (Jerom Prince George 25, Yajurdas T D 11)81-54; Andhra Pradesh(Md.Ghouse Mohiddin 26, A.Sai Pawan Kumar 22, V.Sai Ganesh 14) btKarnataka(Akshan Rao 12, Aniket Sahoo 7)79-32.
Loser Knockout Semifinals:
Punjab(Eknoor Singh 27, Rajbeer 18) bt Telenagana (Yaswanth 20, Shoaib 18)86-66; West Bengal(Rohit 15) bt Bihar(Dharmendra 19)45-39.
