Gilas Girls dominate Maldives in FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup opener

Seeking to earn a promotion to Division A of the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup, the Gilas Pilipinas U18 women’s team wasted no time asserting its dominance in Division B as it gave Maldives a 141-18 mauling on Monday, June 24, at the Futian Sports Park in Shenzhen, China.

A total of nine players scored in double digits for Gilas Girls in the 123-point annihilation, with Margarett Villanueva and Jolzyne Impreso both matching Maldives’ total scoring output with 18 points each.

Gilas opened the contest by scoring 22 unanswered points which was ended by a three-pointer by Tiffany Reyes, and while Mariyam Malak Mohamed Sifan tried to stop the bleeding with her own trey, the Philippines retaliated with a 21-to-eight run to end the quarter with a 32-point advantage.

The Filipinas’ defense then went on to force Maldives to only score seven in the next three frames, with Gilas even limiting their counterparts to only one point in the third quarter, and also helping PH’s cause are the 53 turnovers as well as the 13 per cent shooting of their opponents.

The Philippines shoots for a 2-0 start in Group B when it collides with Lebanon on Tuesday, June 25, at 4:30 pm.

The top two finishers from Groups A and B will advance automatically to the semifinals, while the second and third placers from each group will duke it out for the final two semifinal spots.

Only the winner of the tournament will move up to Division A, where it will join powerhouse squads Australia, China, and Japan, among others.