MALACCA, MALAYSIA – A merciless Perlas Pilipinas showed up on the second day of the SEABA Women’s Championship.
The Filipinas toyed with a listless Laos squad, 179-32, at the Bukit Serendit Indoor Stadium yesterday for a fitting followup to their 69-43 demolition of Singapore the other day.
So unforgiving were the Filipinas, who played with a conscious effort of giving their rivals a sound beating in anticipation of possible quotient complications, that they forced Laos to 51 errors.
That led to 82 turnover points for the Blackwater Women-backed Perlas Pilipinas, whose defense also held Laos without a field goal in an eight-minute stretch in the second period.
“It’s a preparation for the next few games. It’s more of bringing up the confidence level of the girls. It’s also a good time to rest the starting unit for the big games ahead while taking a conscious effort at looking at the quotient dahil baka magkaroon ng triple tie; we’ll never know,” said Perlas coach Patrick Aquino.
Eight Perlas PH players finished in double figures with Jack Animam scoring a career-high 28 points and pulling down a personal best 17 rebounds.
Animam hit 14-of-17 from the field.
Camille Sambile contributed 26 markers followed by Janine Pontejos, who chipped in 19. Mainstays Allana Lim, Cindy Resultay and Amby Almazan each tallied 18 points, while Afril Bernardino added 16. Team captain Raiza Dy had 12 points in 11 minutes of action.
The Philippines scored the first 10 points of the match before Laos broke the ice. The Filipinas then clamped down on defense even more, holding the Laotians without a field goal during an eight-minute stretch in second period.
That allowed Perlas Pilipinas to build an 86-16 bulge.