Chembur school put on their best show in the fourth quarter to beat Dominic Savio ( Ghatkopar) 20- 7 and enter final.
St Anthony's Karyaa Pagare (right) goes past Dominic Savio's Shravani Pol during their MSSA U-13 match at Azad Maidan. Pic /Suresh Karkera
St Anthony's (Chembur) produced their best show in the fourth quarter and went on to emerge 20- 7 winners against an uncharacteristic St Dominic Savio (Ghatkopar) in a mini girls U- 13 semi-final of the MSSA inter-school basketball tournament at Azad Maidan on Wednesday.
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Ace shooter Aadhya Hegde finished with eight points while Karyaa Pagare contributed six and Aishwarya Pednekar made her presence felt with two baskets in the final quarter.
Dominic Savio's Harshali Jadhav and Shravani Pol scored four and three points respectively.
The Chembur school, who won the bronze medal last year, made a positive start, racing to an 8- 0 half- time lead as the Ghatkopar girls struggled to find form and settle down. However, St Anthony's could not shoot a single basket in the third. The Dominic Savio girls took advantage of this situation and managed to score seven points to close the gap.
Coach's pep talk works
A pep talk by coach Allwyn D'Souza lifted the spirits of the St Anthony's girls and they regained their confidence to completely dominate the offensive and defensive boards in the fourth quarter. They scored as many as 12 points and with Dominic Savio unable to score even one, St Anthony's cantered to win and claimed a place in the final.
Aadhya, Karyaa excited
Both Aadhya and Karyaa were excited after the match. " We were both members of our team that defeated Don Bosco International [ Matunga] to finish third last year. This time, we are determined to put up a better performance and win the gold medal," they told mid-day in unison.
Earlier, Vibgyor (Goregaon) won a tight contest against Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu), pulling through with a 18- 14 scoreline.
Meanwhile, in the mini boys first semi-final, defending champions St Joseph's 'A' (Wadala) maintained their winning streak, outclassing Lakshdham (Goregaon) 36- 4.
Leading St Joseph's to the big win was Aaron Serrao, who shot 16 points, including as many as four baskets in the last quarter.
Kevin Karzai and Nathan Barretto chipped in with six points each. Dhruvish Shah and Himadhya Joshi converted a basket each in the last quarter to save Lakshdham some embarrassment.
Later, Don Bosco 'A' (Matunga) played a good tactical game to earn a 24- 18 (half- time 14- 5) victory against Campion School (Cooperage) in the second semi-final.
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