The Gilas Pilipinas Women made history after a breakthrough win against Chinese Taipei, 92-81, avoiding relegation to secure a spot in the knock-out round of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup held at Sydney Olympic Sports Centre in Australia, June 28.
Afril Bernardino came out aggressive right off the jump, slashing through the frontcourt defenders from the Chinese Taipei for back-to-back lay-ins to establish an early paint dominance for the Philippine team.
Bernardino’s early aggression opened up opportunities for Vanessa De Jesus and Mikka Cacho as both scored inside the free-throw line in a collective team effort. This sparked an early momentum for Gilas Women which carried them to a nine-point lead after a made left wing three-point basket by Janine Pontejos to end the 1st quarter.
The Chinese Taipei team however came storming back as they narrowed the deficit to just three points, but Ella Fajardo’s top of the key shot and De Jesus’ step-back buzzer beater three weathered the Taiwanese surge to deny them from forming any momentum which stretched the lead to thirteen points to end the first half, 51-38.
De Jesus could not be stopped in the third quarter despite Yu-Ting Lin’s jays to match Filipinas’ offensive dominance. De Jesus went on to do a little bit of everything in the period as she dished out a couple of assists and stole the rock from the Chinese Taipei for a transition lay-up at the end of the third, 72-62.
Jhazmin Jozon and Bernardino opened the final regulation to stretch the lead to fourteen, 76-62, but Chinese Taipei managed to mount an 8-0 run which sliced the Filipinas’ lead to just only six, 76-70. However, the mettle of Gilas Women allowed them to answer with a 14-3 run of their own behind De Jesus’ heroics late in the fourth which secured a historic win.
Vanessa De Jesus erupted for a game-high 25 points, dished out 4 assists, and grabbed 2 rebounds. Veteran Afril Bernardino stuffed the statsheet by tallying a double-double performance of 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. Jack Animam went perfect on the field by going 8/8, and also recorded a double-double after going 16 points, and 15 rebounds.
The Gilas Pilipinas Women’s team shot a highly efficient 55.1% field goal and 43.8% from behind the arc.
They will now face New Zealand in the knock-out round on June 30, 2023.