Courtesy: Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas
Gilas Pilipinas Women fell at the hands of Chinese Taipei, 71-83, to bow out of contention in the 5-on-5 basketball tournament of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi Nagoya Japan.
Afril Bernardino tallied 23 points and seven rebounds to pace the Philippines, which had a strong 9-2 start before failing to contain the Taiwanese side’s 13-0 blast that ended the opening frame, 15-9.
From there, Chinese Taipei controlled the match, leading by as many as 16 points, 58-42, with 2:38 in the third quarter.
Gilas Women managed to trim the gap to five points, 61-56, as Bernardino scored a basket with 29.8 seconds left in the third.
However, Taipei quickly recovered, firing nine straight points to bridge the third and fourth quarters, for a 70-56 lead, and kept the Philippines at bay for the rest of the game.
Yu-Wen Hsiao paced Chinese Taipei with 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Janine Pontejos and Stef Berberabe added 12 points apiece for Gilas, as Kent Pastrana scored 11 markers. Naturalized player Elizabeth Means struggled to make her shots and was limited to four points on 1-of-10 field goal shooting.
With the result, Gilas Women missed a semifinals spot and settled for fifth place overall, the same result of their predecessors in the previous edition of the Asian Games three years ago in Hangzhou China.
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