Cager sets court on fire

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Last week, when the NBA Challenge Basketball League concluded in Thiruvananthapuram, Troy Justice, director of operations for NBA in India, was elated by the abundance of talent in this part of the world and when asked to pick a name he had no second thoughts — Poojamol K.S.

The American was the one who spotted Poojamol as a legitimate talent in the sport, apt in all respects to follow the footsteps of start player Geethu Anna Jose.

He can be proud of his judgment as it was she who stood out in Kerala’s victory over Chhattisgarh in the final of the 57th National Schools Basketball Championship in Pali, Rajasthan on Friday.

The Kottayam girl top scored with 30 points as Kerala defeated their northern opposition 79-59 to clinch the title after playing out even on 30-30 at the end of the second quarter.

It came as no surprise when Poojamol was adjudged the best player of the championship, pocketing Rs 45,000, including Rs 25,000 from the Rajasthan government.

Poojamol, who is student of Mount Carmel HS Kottayam, who has bagged back-to-back MVP awards, firstly in the NBA Challenge contested by over 1,000 players State wide, will be travelling to New Delhi to join the Indian camp.

The final match also witnessed some spirited performances from Aswathy S. Thampy of Little Flower Girls HS Koratty and Bony Varghese and Arathy Vimal of Sports Hostel Kollam. Aswathy shot 18 points while Bony and Arathy contributed with 14 points each.

Coach Biju D. Themman said the girls had shown great commitment to overpower Chhattisgarh. “Each one of them knew they had to win it. We were defending champions and Poojamol has been with the team for the last three years so they were not nervous and played like champions,” said Biju.

The team consisted of Poojamol and Vinaya Joseph (Mount Carmel), Aswathy S. Thampy, Bony M. Varghese, Minnu George and India Nelson (Little Flower Koratty), Athira V.N., Kavitha Jose (Kannur Sports Division), Anju Jose (Cherupushpa HS Chandanakampara), Arathy Vimal (Sports Hostel Kollam), Aparna R. (St Joseph’s Alapuzha) and Nima Haridas (Kozhikode Presentation GHS).