NEW DELHI, June 21: If last year's finalist Andhra Pradesh boys showed how a slow and steady game can make or break a team's fortunes, Maharashtra girls gave ample proof of how athleticism can swing the pendulum from one extreme to another, within a year. Maharashtra not only stunned their rivals, Kerala, last year's finalist, but also provided some thrilling fare in the girls section of the SAIL-sponsored 48th Junior National Basketball Championships at the DPS (RK Puram) courts here today. Andhra Pradesh defeated Tamil Nadu 69-66 while Maharashtra downed Kerala 67-55.

Earlier, Kerala boys sounded an ominous warning about their abilities to book the first semi-final berth along with Rajasthan who won over Karnataka 55-21. Later, holders Punjab joined the fray beating Uttar Pradesh 88-63.

Among the girls teams making the semi-final grade were Tamil Nadu, who made mincemeat of AP, drubbing them 69-31, while Delhi lost to MP 28-61 and Karnataka humiliated UP 46-30.

Maharashtra girls showed maturity beyond their age and outwitted Kerala. Arnika Gujar (23), who represented India in the ABC Tournament earlier this year, proved that her place in the senior team was not without basis. She was more than a handful for the distorted Kerala lot and combined well with play-maker Lovena Figurido and captain Pradnya Mane (15) to earn several free-throws.

They not only threw the Kerala defence in disarray but also had the knack of forcing them into committing fouls. With the team flag up, Kerala should have slowed down the game but in their eagerness to press Maharashtra hard, they only aided their rivals' cause. However hard Ambily Thomas (20) and Ranjini Jose (13) tried towards the close, they could not take the game away from the fleet-footed Maharashtrians.

Subhash J Shenoy led the Kerala boys into the semis when they beat Pondicherry 38-20 in the morning. In another quarter-final, Rajasthan, showing great improvement, downed Karnataka 55-21 to take their place in the semis.

THE SEMI-FINAL LINE UP: BOYS: Punjab vs Rajasthan; Andhra Pradesh vs Kerala

GIRLS: Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra vs Karnataka.

Boys (QF): Kerala 38 (Subhash J Shenoy 17, Abhilash 12) bt Pondicherry 20 (R Selvam 8); Rajasthan 55 (Manohar Singh 12, Mohit Bhandari 11) bt Karnataka 21 (S Abhishek 8); Punjab 88 (Preet Pal Singh 22, Amarpreet Singh Cheema 18, Surinder Pal Singh 16) bt UP 63 (Amit Singh 17); AP 69 (Vinay Kumar Yadav 16, Ramesh Babu 17, Madhusudan Rao 17) bt TN 66 (S Sushant 15, G Prakash 20, Venkateswaralu 12).

PQF: UP 69 (Amit Singh 23, Abhinav Singh 18) bt Haryana 48 (Rajesh Kumar 17, Ravinder 14); TN 67 (John Paul 18, Venkateswaralu 18, Sai Sushant 13) bt Gujarat 49 (Abhay Kumar Singh 12, Prashant Acharya 10).

Girls (QF): Maharashtra 67 (Arnika Gujar 23, Pradnya Mane 15, Mithila Gujar 12, Lovena Figurido 10) bt Kerala 55 (Ambili Thomas 20, Ranjini Jose 13, Seeta S Lakshmi 8); TN 69 (N Shyamala 16, J P Fenny 13, NSP Kaushika 10) bt AP 31 (Sofi Sam 15); MP 61 (Priyanka Wankhede 16, Niyati Shah Choudhary 8) bt Delhi 28 (Caren Lee 8); Karnataka 46 (Reshma Punith 14, U Prarthana 10) bt UP 30 (Payal Awasthi 12).

PQF: AP (54 (P Shailaja 16, Sofi Sam 13) bt Haryana 34 (Sunila 15); Maharashtra 60 (Arnika Gujar 20, Pradnya Mane 10, Mithila Gujar 10) bt Punjab 41 (Renu 19, Varsha 10).

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.