Kerala women prepared champion Railways for the challenges ahead by giving a tough fight before falling short 67-64, after leading 33-32 at half time, in the 64th IMG Reliance National basketball championship here on Saturday.
However, it has to be conceded that Railways was able to step it up whenever it found itself in trouble.
Geethu Anna Jose was at her fluent best despite tight marking by Stephy Nixon and top-scored with 25 points. Anju Lakra eased the tension towards the end by sinking a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to build a 12-point lead.
The Kerala girls, enjoying a height advantage for the most part, were sharp with the passes and sure with their shooting that saw the team level at 58-58 with four minutes left on the clock.
From this stage, Geethu and Anju controlled the show by scoring the nine points.
Kerala missed a a few free throws and that reflected in the eventual margin.
While Railways was set to top the pool, Delhi and Kerala will thrash it out for the second spot.
In Group ‘B’, Maharashtra shocked Chhattisgarh 60-56 after leading 29-19 at half time.
Last year’s runner-up Tamil Nadu lost to Punjab 59-79. It was the second loss in three matches for Tamil Nadu, set to play Madhya Pradesh in the last match of the league.
In contrast, Tamil Nadu men stayed in the race to top Group ‘A’, as they outclassed Delhi 78-47 after leading 36-21 at half time.
In Group ‘B’, Rajasthan thumped Andhra Pradesh 87-31.
The results (league): Men: Group A: TN 78 (Pratham Singh 20, Rikin Pethani 16, S.P. Venkatesh 14) bt Delhi 47 (Pravin Dovan 13, Vinay Kaushik 11, Yatan Sharma 10).
Railways 80 (Hirendra Rathare 19, Arjun Singh 10) bt Chhattisgarh 58 (Ajay Pratap Singh 14, Sameer Rai 13, Karan Pal Singh 12).
Uttarakhand 62 (Yadwinder Singh 16, Amritpal Singh 16, Riyazuddin 13, Dinesh Kumar 11) bt Delhi 43 (Vinay Kaushik 14, Pravin Dovan 13).
Group B: Rajasthan 87 (Vinod Kumar 22, Jaynesh Patel 18, Kamrran Khan 17, Harsh Vardhan 12, Prashant Singh 10) bt Andhra Pradesh 31.
Women: Group A: Railways 67 (Geethu Anna Jose 25, M. Pushpa 11) bt Kerala 64 (P. S. Jeena 19, Stephy Nixon 14, P. S. Neenumol 13).
Group B: Maharashtra 60 (Shireen Limaye 20, Kenny S. Lalu 13, Sona Saji 10) bt Chhattisgarh 56 (Seema Singh 22, L. Deepa 13).
Karnataka 75 (Kruthika Lakshman 27, Roshim Rose 14, Sagarika Shyam 14) bt West Bengal 67 (Sukurmoni Oraon 21, Varsha Verma 19, Salma Devi 11, Sitamani Tudu 10).
Punjab 79 (Kiranjeet Kaur 33, Harjeet Kaur 18, Nirmal Kaur 10) bt TN 59 (Apoorva Muralinath 15, Soniya Joy 12, V. Srividya 11).