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L Deepa just knew it would be her calling and shot with 19 second on the clock. The three-pointer gave Chhattisgarh a 55-53 lead and though Southern Railway's R Rapapri earned two free throws with 11 seconds to go, she converted just one.Southern lost 54-55 to a determined Chhattisgarh and throw open the women's draw in the United Phosphorous and Tridhaathu Realty sponsored 28th Ramu Memorial basketball tournament at the Indian gymkhana on Thursday.The win for Chhattisgarh leaves them with two wins and one loss, Southern have won one and lost one while Maharashtra have won one and lost two. It was the most exciting match which came alive in the fourth quarter.Though Anitha Pauladurai, who is part of the Indian Railway team and played not minutes in their win over Maharashtra, checked into the game in the third quarter, Southern's defending was terrible as they allowed Chhattisgarh too many easy points.

Rapapri had a game high 16 points and 10 rebounds while Anitha had 11 points and 4 rebounds. L Deepa's Chhattisgarh's star, had 14 points and 10 rebounds to go with her four assists. M Sangeeta had 15 points and 4 rebounds.

Last night, IAF, who won the Inter-services title after a gap of 59 years in 2010, showed their speed and fitness as they routed Western Railway 83-59 in the men's contest. IAF have won two games and lost to IOB.

IAF jumped to a 38-11 lead in the first quarter largely due to their speed and fitness. They had 6 fast breaks to Western's 2, 42 points from the paint to Western' 24, 14 second chance points to Western's 5, had 40 rebounds to Western's 21.

IAF's K Narender had a 29-point, 6-rebound game. He was complimented by K Pravin's 19 points and 8 rebounds and S Shivraj's 12 points and 8 rebounds. Prakash Mishra, as usual, was the only effective Western player and he had 28 points.

Later on Thursday, IOB defeated Western 43-28 today to qualify for the semifinals along with IAF.

Results: Men's: I.O.B. 43 (Pratham S 18, V Prasanna 10) bt Western Railway 28 (Prakash Mishra 12, Jaskaran Singh 12) Quarter wise score: 11-8, 27-10, 39-18, 43-28); Indian Air Force (IAF) 83 (Narender K 29, Pravin K 19, Shivraj S 12) bt Western Railway 59 (Prakash Mishra 28, Jasjot Singh 12) Quarter wise score: (38-10, 48-26, 71-45, 83-59); I.O.B. 78 (Harish K 16, Rikin P 13, Vineeth R 12, Pratham S 10) bt Maharashtra 45 (Settv S. M. 12) Quarter wise score: (20-3, 35-17, 53-33, 78-45).

Women's: Chhattisgarh 55 (Sangeeta M 15, Deepa L 14, Anjanaekka 11) bt Southern Railway 54 (R Rajapri 16, Anitha Pauldurai 11, S Kokila 11) Quarter-wise score: (10-7, 15-20, 31-35, 55-54).