8th Savio Cup Women's finals Review: Maharashtra vs Southern Railways

The women’s finals in the 8th Savio Cup saw a spirited battle between hosts Maharashtra and Southern Railways. Maharashtra had beaten Southern Railways in their first match at this tournament and Railways were coming in looking for payback. The other two teams in the women’s section were Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, both of whom were beaten by the finalists earlier this week.

Southern Railways came into this Savio Cup with just six players total. On the other hand, those six included Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Pauldurai and Kokila, so that kind of evens things out. Although Southern Railways were only fielding 6 players in total, they were running and gunning to start things off, throwing long outlet passes and converting easy baskets off them. Largely thanks to their size advantage with Geethu down low getting the rebounds and sparking off the break, Anitha and Kokila were able to take it down court or throw long baseball style passes to get easy ones at the other end.

Maharashtra tried to connect from the outside a lot in the first quarter, but they missed quite a few. Then they got quite a few baskets by getting the ball down in the post then converting on turnaround jumpers. On the other hand, Geethu was getting double teamed soon as she caught the ball and took a moment to establish herself in a game where she finished with a whooping 45 points. At the end of the first quarter, Southern Railways led 31-16. A lot of defensive techniques were applied to contain Geethu, double teams, Shireen trying to front her and prevent the inlet pass; all to no avail.

Maharashtra came out of the gate strong in the second quarter and Southern Railways called a timeout after Maharashtra cut the lead down to 13. They regained their composure and then began to pull away, building a lead to 41-26 at one point. Railways lead was chipped down to 10 point near halfway in the third quarter, then they built it back to 17 with 5 minutes left in the third.

As the game went on, Maharashtra were able to move the ball around better as Railways’ legs seemed to lag a little. The dream scenario for Maharashtra would have been to make the Railways players foul out, since they were only fielding six players. They were trying to tire out Railways and take advantage of their numbers. The lead was down to 62-48 after a banked shot by Shireen and an assist by her. Then Geethu went on a streak and dropped in a couple in a row. Maharashtra made another comeback by scoring 8 points inside a minute and half and with a minute and 20 seconds left, cut it down to 10 at 52-62 off a jumper by Manisha Dange. It was 52-66 in favour of Railways to start the fourth.

Maharashtra started playing zone in the fourth. Manisha began the fourth for Maharashtra with a jumper, then Smruthi beat Geethu down the court and laid in a basket. Geethu answered right back. Then Anitha laid in one off a fast break to increase the lead to 14. With 7:41 left, the score read 70-56. Then Anamika of Maharashtra fouled out, she was a tall player who was counted on to contain Geethu. Shireen hit a three to make it 74-57, right after which Maharashtra defense opened up and Railways were able to get a easy one. Smruthi stole an inbound pass and scored to cut the lead a little but Geethu answered right back. Then Manisha Dange hit a three to cut it down to 12. After which Geethu caught fire and let them pull away. And a three pointer by Kokila all but sealed the game with a minute left.

In an entertaining contest, Southern Railways defeated Maharashtra 88-73. Southern Railways have now won this tournament five years in a row. Geethu was the top scorer for Railways with 45. For Maharashtra, Manisha scored 20 and Smruthi added 19.