The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Ernakulam wins thriller, enters semifinals

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Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

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Sport - Basketball

Ernakulam wins thriller, enters semifinals

Principal Correspondent

KUNNAMKULAM: The best of collegiate talent offered a ravishing treat at the 50th Sheenlac State senior basketball championship here on Tuesday evening. Ernakulam, virtually Aluva's St Xavier's - the Kerala College Games champion, won a hard-fought battle against Kottayam at 66-60 and squeaked into the women's semifinals at the Municipal Jawahar Stadium.

International Regi A. Sunny, a former Central Railway star who is now back in Kerala after landing a State Government job, and former junior international Cimi Jose Kavalakatt, the two big stars in the Ernakulam team made all the difference.

Kottayam is almost the Assumption College team, which is on a merry roll this season, even surprising KSEB, the State's champion club in the recent Viswappan Trophy in Alappuzha.

After hustling and harrying Ernakulam by crowding the lanes, Kottayam held a small lead at the end of the first quarter with the team's lively forward Leena Mariam Baby sparkling.

Regi, Cimi dazzle

But it was Ernakulam all the way in the next quarter, with Regi and Cimi taking over. Regi, a fast and reliable playmaker, was all over the court, stealing passes, intercepting them and often dancing dangerously in front of her opposite number.The results:

Women's quarterfinal: Ernakulam 66 (Cimi Jose Kavalakatt 25, Regi A. Sunny 19) bt Kottayam 60 (Subbalakshmi 10, Leena Mariam Baby 17, Susan Mary Jose 11).

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