Mumbai Central boys, girls storm into semis

Mumbai, May 16 (UNI) Mumbai Central boys and girls registered impressive wins to storm into the semi-finals of the 59th Junior Maharashtra State Inter-District Basketball Championship, organised by the Greater Mumbai Central District Basketball Association, at the Naigaum Police Ground, Parel here today.

Mumbai Central boys prevailed over Satara 50-40, after leading 27-18 at half time. Shivam Singh scored the most for Mumbai Central with 20 points, while Aniket Kale scored 11 for Satara.

The Mumbai Central girls rallied to a nail-biting 36-34 win over Raigad after trailing 18-21 at the lemon break. Once again, Shilpa Ghase scored the most for the winners with 20 points.

In an exciting league encounter, Aurangabad boys edged past Akola 53-45 in a thrilling Group 'H' tie to advance to the knock out.

Aurangabad, who led 27-22 at half time, were aided by B. Prashant who top-scored with 18 points, while Dhiraj Navgane scored the most for Akola with 13 points.

Later, Aurangabad, who led 18-16 at half time, overcame Solapur 43-39 in another pulsating match to enter the quarter-finals.

Joining Aurangabad in the quarter-finals were formidable Pune who made a late charge to crush Mumbai North 72-49, after enjoying a narrow 27-22 lead at the interval.

Others to advance to the knock out among the boys were last year's runners-up Thane, Kolhapur and Satara.

Among the girls, Nagpur beat Mumbai North 58-26 to enter the quarter-finals.

Results: Boys: QF: Mumbai Central 50 (Shivam Singh 20) bt Satara 40 (Aniket Kale 11). HT: 27-18.

PQF: Aurangabad 43 (Sumedh Jadhav 14) bt Solapur 39 (Azim N 9).

HT: 18-16. Pune 72 (Akshay Bhosale 26, Ajinkya Mehta 25) bt Mumbai North 49 (Akshat Gupt 9). HT: 27-22.

League: Kolhapur 72 (Vinayak Bhosale 21, Rohan Naikwade 9) bt Raigad 54 (Ajinkya Mane 26, Jayanat Shinde 6). HT: 34-27. Satara 52 (V. Borate 16, A. Jadhav 7) bt Washim 27 (H. Rathod 18). HT: 33-16. Aurangabad 53 (Prashant B. 18, Altaf Pathan 9) bt Akola 45 (Dhiraj Navgare 13, Ashish Belokar 8). HT: 27-22. Thane 53 (Nikhil Kamerkar 12, Rohan Borkar 10) bt Ratnagiri 2. Mumbai Central 50 (Shivam Singh 20) bt Satara 40 (Aniket Kale 6). HT: 27-18.

Girls: QF: Mumbai Central 36 (Aman Chadda 11, Aishwarya Shetty 8) bt Raigad 34 (Shilpa Ghase 20). HT: 18-21. Pune 58 (Tanvi Shewale 13, Nikita Kapur 9) bt Kolhapur 17 (Aishwarya Shinde 6). HT: 29-11.

PQF: Nagpur 58 (Kushali Jethwa 11, Vaishnavi Shringarpure 8) bt Mumbai North 26 (Shagun Vazir 8, Shruti Jainapur 6). HT: 35-16.

League: Mumbai North 32 (Shivali K. 13) bt Satara 25 (Shagun Wazir 12). HT: 11-10. Aurangabad 51 (Supriya Mondale 31, Ujwala S. 9) bt Yavatmal 45 (Pallavi Dodewar 26, Pooja Jaminkar 15). HT: 21-21. Nagpur 61 (Khushali Jethwa 18, Pooja Sawant 16) bt Dhule 9 (Charusheela Badke 6). HT: 39-4.

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