Gayatri helps Agradneya prevail

Mumbai, January 3: With eight seconds left in the match, Gayatri Manolikar stood at the free throw line. Her team, Agradneya Vyayamshala ...

Mumbai, January 3: With eight seconds left in the match, Gayatri Manolikar stood at the free throw line. Her team, Agradneya Vyayamshala trailed 27-28. Gayatri had to convert at least one free-throw to help her team down level. She sunk both as Agradneya pipped Indian Gymkhana 29-28 to enter the youth girls final in the 2nd Fr. Agnel Open Basketball tournament at Vashi today.It was a commendable win for a team featuring four players who were three years under age. Moreover, those four girls, just an hour earlier had played the mini girls semifinals, where they defeated Datsur school, Pune to keep their undefeated record this year intact.

Agradneya trailed throughout the match, as Krupa Temkar controlled the ball well for Indian Gymkhana. And when Mugdha Waingankar scored a three-pointer, with the minutes ticking away, to open up a four-point lead for Gymkhanan at 26-22, the game seemed headed Matunga way. But Priyadarshini Patil converted crucial baskets to keep Agradneya in reckoning.

In the minissemi-finals, Dastur fought back from a 14-22 deficit in the third quarter through Tulsi Ranganathan and Anketa Verma. But experience rescued Agradneya, who had defeated the Pune girls in the state championships final. The two teams are likely to feature in many more summit clashes in the next five years.

Results

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Youth Boys (League): Green Star 37 (Sadaf Kharadi 16, Daniel Kamble 8) bt Youngsters, Pune 18 (Nikhil Palande 6) HT: 18-9.

Semi-finals: Fr. Agnel 40 (Anup Nair 12, Avinash Amin 6) bt School of Baskebtall 32 (Prashant K 8, Chinmay Bhandarkar 11) HT:22-13.

Mini boys (quarters): Mastan YMCA 41 (Naeem T 8, Naved K 12) bt NNH 19 (Rais Mohammad 7, Hannan Shaikh 6) HT: 23-7; Green Star, Solapur 46 (Mohsin Ansari 17, Najeeb Munshi 8, Sushant Jadhav 6, John Marcos 6) bt Agnel 28 (Harshad Borkar 6, John Anthony 6) HT: 25-17.

Semi-finals: Loyola 57 (Rahul Shetty 10, Karna Mehta 16, Siddharth Khatate 8, Prasad Shinde 10) bt Green Star 14 (Anand Sangam 5) HT: 32-9; Mastan YMCA 52 (Mohammad Faisal13, Vikar Qureshi 11, Obaid Shaikh 8, Junair Shaikh 8) bt BTS Sangli 23 (Swapnil Khatkar 10) HT: 35-13.

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Youth girls (semi-finals): Agradneya 29 (Gayatri Manolikar 10, Priyadarshini Patil 8) bt Indian Gymkhana 28 (Krupa Temkar 12, Mugdha Waingankar 7) HT: 10-13.

Mini girls (semi-finals): Agradneya 29 (Priyadarshini Patil 12, Rucha Marathe 6) bt Dastur 26 (Tulsi Ranganathan 10, Anketa Verma 10) HT: 18-10; SKS 31 (Nrupada Joshi 6, Priyanka Moghe 8, Mrunmayee Chincholikar 6) bt SPM 10 (Chaitrali Amrutakar 4) HT: 14-5.