Mumbai, Nov 2: Delhi lacked the arsenal to apply pressure on Western Railway in the opening women's league match of the Nagpada Neighbourhood House (NNH) all-India invitational basketball tournament conducted at the Late Bachoo Khan court, Nagpada, here today. Western Railway overcame a sluggish start and won 70-51.Later, in the men's league for the Second Late Ishlaque Ansari Trophy, ONGC, Dehradun quelled a late surge by local team Bombay South-East to triumph 81-71.Buoyed by the capacity crowd which had filled up before the start of the tournament, Delhi seized the initiative, taking a 23-12 lead in the first 10 minutes. International Mandeep Kaur, who impressed with her speed and control, scored 10 of her 14 points in that period.A rattled Western Railway woke up with a full press. Meena Singh and Lincy Joseph choked Delhi's mature junior international ball-handler Nishita Chowdhary with a double-team. Delhi caved in to the pressure, and made too many turnovers. Of the next 30 minutes, only oneenduring image remained: That of Meena Singh scoring repeatedly off fast breaks. She could have done it all day! Western snapped up a 20-0 run to take the lead 32-23.But, in their enthusiasm to stop the Delhi girls, especially 5'11'' Shivani Gupta, the Railway side were staring at foul trouble in the second half. Their tall duo Bindu Mathew and Ivy Cherian were back on the bench with five minutes left. Trailing nearly 20 points, Delhi should have applied pressure, if only as a brave gesture. They did not.Delhi coach Nisha Soni said after the match, ``The Western girls played rough. The referee should have blown the whistle against them more often.''ONGC, the UP state team that finished 10th at the nationals this year, piled up a 15-point lead in the first half and appeared to be coasting to victory. But crowd support can be a magic wand. Shahzad Shaikh and Imran Ansari, with 15 and 10 second-half points respectively, fuelled a fightback, largely due to an improved conversion percentage. South-Easttied at 58-58 with seven minutes play left, sending the supporters, many of them crowding balconies and windows of neighbouring buildings, into raptures.Suresh Kumar, named player of the match, saw ONGC to safety. He drove in well, and was brilliant from the periphery, once shooting a three-pointer from behind a screen of three ONGC players!ResultsMen's league: ONGC 81 (Rajinder Singh 26, Anup Minz 19, Suresh Kumar 19) bt Bombay South East 71 (Shahzad Shaikh 17, Imran Ansari 14, Fahim Khan 12 (3x3), Mansoor Ahmed 11) HT 45-31.Women's League: Western Railway 70 (Deepali Shah 20, Lincy Joseph 14, Bindu Mathew 12, Ivy Cherian 12, Meena Singh 12) bt Delhi 51 (Mandeep Kaur 14, Shivani Gupta 16, Nishita Chowdhary 11) HT 36-26; Central Railway 77 (Jeo Jose 24, Jiji Jose 10) bt Northern Railway 58 (L Bhullar 22 (5x3), Ahinsa Sekri 15, Prabjyot Gill 11) HT 34-16.
