India finishes 5th in junior Asian women`s basketball

Colombo: The Indian basketball team finished fifth in the third FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship for Women by defeating Kazakhstan 84-71.

Vimmy Varkey made all her four free throws count in the last 30 seconds to keep the game out of reach for Kazakhstan. After securing a victory over Malaysia earlier in the tournament, India had to win against Kazakhstan to retain Level I position for the fourth edition scheduled for 2015. This is the second time India has finished fifth. After leading by six points in the first quarter, Kazakhstan put up a fight as they went to tie the score at half time at 36. The third quarter belonged to India as they scored 26 points to Kazakhstan’s 15. Four Indians scored double digits with Riya Verma with the highest (24 points). India went on to score 34 from Point in the Paint and 11 points from Turnovers. The victory was powered by their inside play and defence, scoring 34 points in the paint and 11 more off turnovers.