ISO Kite strategically erred to lose a spot in the Women’s Nepal Basketball League final despite defeating Nepal Police Club 64-62 in their last league game of the tournament on Saturday.

Having already lost to the departmental team 76-63 in the first leg, ISO Kite needed at least a victory at least 14-point margin to go through on head-to-head score difference. On the back of another round of fine performance from Filipino Allana Mary Lim and Mary Joy Galicia, ISO Kite managed to put NPC under pressure and tied the game at 62 with 1.2 seconds remaining. They needed to push the game to Over Time and go for overturning 14-point deficit but instead Galicia sunk a two-pointer after the opponents let her score and NPC went through with a score difference of 11 points.

Both NPC and ISO Kite finished with nine points from six games. In the final on June 22, NPC will take on Samriddhi Gorillas who were shocked 71-41 by a lowly Saipal team in the day’s second and last game. Gorillas finished at the top of the table with 11 points from six matches.

In the first match, NPC took a slim 13-12 lead and took the second quarter 19-17 for an overall three-point cushion heading into the second half. They stretched the lead to five points after third quarter scoring 15 to that of 13 from the opponents before ISO Kite fought hard in the final period. ISO Kite led the final quarter 22-15 for their third victory in the tournament.

Lim continued her scoring spree in the tournament with another 30 points for a total of 145 — the highest by any other play in the league. Galicia was the match MVP for her 21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Anusha Malla scored 17 points for NPC to close in on three figures in the tournament.

Later in the day, Gorillas crash to a shock big defeat at the hands of minnows Saipal after player-of-the-match Roshni Shrestha scored 26 points. Saipal built a solid 15-point (22-7) lead in the first quarter and it ballooned to 18 after they took the second period 12-9. Their domination continued in the second half as well leading the third quarter 18-11 and fourth 19-14 for a huge victory.