PLAYING to their reputation, Nagpur girl cagers retained the State Junior Championship at Aurangabad on Thursday. In the summit clash, defending champions Nagpur defeated Pune 76-59 to retain the crown. Dhara Phate once again showed her class top scoring for Nagpur with 34 points while Sameeksha Chandak was equally excellent scoring 11 points. Swati Wankhade (10), Saee Deshmukh (9) and Namrata Desai (7) also played well for Nagpur. Nagpur lost first two quarters 6-12 and 14-19 but they showed excellent team work to bounce back and win the third quarter 25-10. They kept their cool and won the third and final quarter 31-18 to wrest the title.

 

For Pune Chaitali Bafna (20) and Sai Bramhankar (12) played well. Nagpur Girls’ Team: Sameeksha Chandak, Dhara Phate, Sneha Khandelwal (all DKM), Gunjan Mantri, Swati Wankhede, Ekta Metka (all SNG); Namrata Desai (Captain NBYS), Saee Deshmukh, Meehira Dhote (both ABC); Anjali Nandanwar (GKM), Riya Chipate (PBG), Sanavi Tambe (NASA). Coach: Dhiraj Kadao, Asst Coach: Sharad Dewalkar, Manager: Amit Sampat.