ISLAMABAD, April 29: Wapda will take on Punjab and Islamabad will play Higher Education Commission in the semi-finals of the 16th National Women’s Basketball Championship at the Bahria University courts here on Monday.

Defending champions Wapda topped Pool ‘A’ while Higher Education Commission were second. Islamabad and Punjab took the first two positions respectively in the four-team Group ‘B’, said a press release issued by the HEC.

Wapda, Islamabad and Punjab recorded comfortable wins in the last three matches of the group stage, played at the Hamidi Hall of the Pakistan Sports Complex on Sunday.

Wapda defeated HEC 51-38 in a match which many feel was a full dress rehearsal for Tuesday’s final. The winners were leading 15-10 at the end of the first quarter. Wapda added another 15 points in the second quarter and restricted their opponents to just six.

HEC played a lot better after the break but although they outscored Wapda 22-21 in the second-half, they were not able to overcome the lead.  Umme Laila and Mehreen Fatima top-scored for Wapda with 11 points each. Shakila Rehman (8) and Fariha Khan (7) also played well.

Nayar Nasir, Sobia Sultan and Sana Mehmood added 10 points apiece for HEC while Roma Abbas contributed seven.

Islamabad stayed unbeaten in the group stage with a 17-10 victory in a low-scoring match against Railways.

Momina Abid scored six points for Islamabad while their other contributors were Roaa Tahir (4) and Saqiba Arshad (3). Iqra Naeem (5) and Amber Ayub (4) played well for Railways.

Punjab survived a late charge from Sindh to win 26-20 in the first match of the day.

After leading 20-8 in the first half and looking good to sail through in the remainder of the match, Punjab seemed to have lost the plot after the break.

Sindh put the winners under pressure with some tight defending as they restricted Punjab to just six points in the last two quarters, in which Sindh collected 12 points.

Rizwana Kanwal (7), Samina Zulfiqar (6) and Almira Chaudhry (4) were the other main scorers for Punjab.

Hajra Khan (7), Hina Moin (6) and Shazia Naz (4) played well for Sindh.

Monday’s fixtures (semi-finals): Wapda v Punjab; Islamabad v HEC