The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Thiruvananthapuram women reign supreme

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Friday, Dec 09, 2005

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Sport - Basketball

Thiruvananthapuram women reign supreme

Stan Rayan

KUNNAMKULAM: Kannur lost its steel when it mattered the most as Thiruvananthapuram (65-72) retained the women's title in the 50th Sheenlac State senior basketball championship here on Thursday evening.

Later Ernakulam,defeated Thiruvananthapuram 88-64 and won the men's title.

Impressive start

Last year's runner-up Kannur, a fast and well-tuned bunch from the Thalassery SAI, did all the running and the dazzling. With playmaker Deepa Mathew, who has impressed all through the tournament, doing a sterling job, at one stage the young Kannur girls looked like they could never put a foot wrong.

With Nithya and Deepa also handling the rebounds well, Kannur appeared set to end Thiruvananthapuram's long reign.

Tactical switch over

But Thiruvananthapuram, virtually the KSEB side, slowed down the game considerably in the last quarter.

The talented S.S. Anjana, who had been looking dangerous all through, came up with a few steals and broke away for baskets. Ball-handler Simi Subramanian used the bounce pass smartly to break through Kannur's choking zone defence and suddenly, the girls from the Capital levelled the scores at 61 in the last quarter.

The results:

Women's final: Thiruvananthapuram 72 (S.S. Anjana 25, P. Lajitha 19, Simi Subramanian 13) bt Kannur 65 (M. Beena 27, Deepa Mathew 19). Third place play-off: Ernakulam 38 (Cimi Jose Kavalakatt 12) bt Thrissur 23 (Lissa Rani 9).

Men's final: Ernakulam 88 (Subash Shenoy 33, V. Vivek 25, Joe Antony 13) bt Thiruvananthapuram 64 (M. Anoop 12, T.S. Abhilash 22, Monish Wilson 15, S.S. Deepu 11).

Third place play-off: Pathanamthitta 56 (Vineeth Ravi Mathew 30, Shinumon Augustine 12) bt Thrissur 41 (Manoj 25).

Wednesday's late results (semifinals): Men: Thiruvananthapuram 87 (T.S.Abhilash 26, M. Anoop 12, Bobit Mathew 16, S.S. Deepu 14) bt Pathanamthitta 57 (Shinumon Augustine 17, Vineeth Ravi Mathew 13).

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