By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Girls now stand at the doorstep of the Division A promotion.
Gilas lived up to its billing as one of the favorites to rule the Division B tiff after dominating Southeast Asian rival Malaysia, 79-44 to advance to the final of the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championships Division B at the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman Jordan, Saturday, July 15 (Manila time).
The Nationals bucked a slow start, unloading a massive second frame explosion before clamping down on the defensive end in the last two quarters to stay undefeated through four games in the tournament.
Gilas will face fellow favorites Iran on Monday, July 17 for the right to move up to Division A and join elite Asian teams like China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Ava Fajardo showed the way for the Filipinas with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds apart from five assists and two steals. She was amply supported by Ma. Christina Laparan and Ariel Star De La O who both chipped in 10 apiece.
De La O also collared 11 rebounds, sharing the top rebounding honors with Alyssia Palma.
Unlike in its group stage matches though, Gilas had to overcome some jitters in the opening frame after finding itself down by three points, 9-12 late in the opening frame.
The Filipinas cage belles, however, managed to string together six straight points to end the quarter to take a 15-13 lead, building their momentum to the next period where they started ripping the game apart.
Gilas exploded for 30 huge points in that quarter to wrest control of the contest and take a commanding 45-27 lead at the break. If that wasn’t still enough the Filipinas also pounced on the Malaysian on the defensive end in the second half, limiting them to single digits in the last two quarters.
