India begin with thumping win

India began their quest for promotion to the top tier with a 106-37 drubbing of Nepal in their opening Group A tie in Division B of the FIBA under-16 women’s Asia Cup basketball tournament at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Forward Vaishnavi Yadav was the star performer for India with 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Center Pushpa Senthil Kumar scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while another center Monica Jayakumar netted 11 points.

Skipper Pratikshya Magar scored 11 points for Nepal.

Nepal, making their first appearance in the event, never stood a chance against their towering opponents, who raced to an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes on the back of impressive performances from Vaishnavi and Pushpa and led 26-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Skipper Sanjana Ramesh too joined the party as she combined well with Vaishnavi to increase her side’s advantage to 49-16 at the half-time buzzer.

India raised their game after the break and went up 83-20 after the third quarter. The last 10 minutes were just a formality as India scored another 23 points to complete a big win.

In Group B, Malaysia scored a thumping 130-14 win over Maldives.

In Division A, defending champions China asserted their might with a dominant 141-32 win over Hong Kong in Group B.

Results: Division A: Group A: Australia: 61 (Eliza Hollingsworth 10, Isabel Palmer 10) bt New Zealand: 43 (Charlisse Leger-Walker 13); South Korea: 90 (Geumbi  Na 14, Yerim Jung 14, Nayeon Ko 13) bt Chinese Taipei: 68 (Chia-Jung Lin 17).

Group B: Japan: 115 (Maika Mura 20, Yuki Shuto 14, Msa Hayashi 12, Yu Suzuki 10, Sakura Noguchi 10) bt Thailand: 37 (Yada Sriharaksa 14); China: 141 (Wan Jiyuan 22, Liu Yutong 21, Zheng Ming 20, Liu Jiaqi 17) bt Hong Kong: 32 (Nga Wing Law 11).

Division B: Group A: India: 106 (Vaishnavi Yadav 23, Pushpa Senthil Kumar 18, Monica Jayakumar 13, Neha Karwa 10) bt Nepal: 37 (Pratikshya Magar 11).

Group B: Malaysia: 130 (Lai Toong Tan 15, Shi Yu Lim 15, Zi Wei Wong 13, Edna Lee 15, J Lim 10) bt Maldives: 14.