Tamil Nadu women enter National Basketball quarters

Mysuru: With back-to-back victories, including a double overtime thriller against hosts Karnataka and a 57-37 win today morning against Punjab, the Tamil Nadu women have sealed a berth in the quarterfinals of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship here.

The other women's teams that have secured a spot in the quarters thus far are the undefeated Indian Railways and Kerala women, along with defending champions Chhattisgarh, 2015 runners up Delhi and the surprise of the tournament, Telangana.

Kerala women remained undefeated as they overpowered the top spot contenders Telangana, handing them their first loss of the tournament. Jeena PS once again made it look easy as she scored 20 points and grab 12 rebounds to help her team advance to the quarterfinals of the championship.

The remaining 2 quarterfinal spots are still up for grabs to be decided through the pre-quarterfinal results. The Punjab women have sneaked through to the pre-quarterfinals knocking out hosts Karnataka on the basis of the head-to-head record between the two teams.

Karnataka women have been winless in the tournament so far after losing their final group game to the Indian Railways team 68-49 today afternoon. Centre Rajapriyadarshini top scored for the Railways team with 19 points. Maharashtra women are also through to the pre-quarterfinals with a win against Madhya Pradesh today morning, led by heir experienced guard and captain, Manisha Dange, who scored 22 points. West Bengal and Rajasthan women will also be playing in the pre-quarterfinals for a spot in the quarters.

In the men's section, the undefeated Tamil Nadu and Punjab teams have booked their last-eight spot along with the Services team.

Tamil Nadu maintained their spotless record with a 95-29 blowout victory against Telangana. Punjab also remained unbeaten with a comfortable 83-66 victory against Haryana led by their centre Gagandeep Singh putting up a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds.