BOYS and girls teams of Nagpur reached semifinals of Junior State Basketball Championship currently in progress at Pune. Palak Panchbudhe was unstoppable as Nagpur eves outsmarted Thane 51-40 in their quarterfinal match. Palak scored a whopping 21 points and was supported by Meehira Dhote who contributed 10. The quarter-wise scores in favour of the winners read 8-8, 12-7, 21-7, 10-18. The margin would have been much bigger had the city girls defended well in the last quarter.

 

For Thane, Arya Mhatre (13) and Dhurvi Pisal (9) were the main contributors. Nagpur girls will take on Mumbai North in the semi-final. Nagpur boys Neil Dharghawe (11), Ram Kadu (10), Deep Bhandarkar (10) and Om Raut (9) combined well to thump Mumbai Central 58-43. Nagpur cagers maintained lead in all the four quarters — 19-17, 15-9, 12-10, 12-7. For the losing team, Vignesh Nadar top-scored with 21 points. Nagpur boys will face Satara in semis.