By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Pilipinas girls team opened their bid for promotion in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup Division B in a rousing fashion, beating Maldives to a pulp, 141-18, at the Futian Sports Park in Shenzhen, China on Monday, June 24.
The Filipinas were simply head and shoulders above their opponents, setting the tone right on the opening tip with a scorching 22-0 blast before erecting a 43-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The big lead in the first frame turned out to be just the start of a total dominance for Gilas which even limited Maldives to just seven points the rest of the way while reaching the 30-point mark in all of the remaining three quarters.
Everything simply clicked for the wards of head coach Julie Amos all of the players were fielded and everyone scored in the rout. Nine players actually scored in double-figures for Gilas led by the 18 points of Alicia Villanueva and Jolzyne Impresso.
Ashlyn Abong and Sophia Candido had 14-points apiece holdovers from the previous Gilas U16 team Gabby Ramos, Naomi Panganiban and Ava Fajardo also had their shares.
Ramos added a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds while Fajardo had an all-around game of 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Panganiban chipped in 10 as Aubrey Lapasaran and Tiffany Reyes had 11 and 12 respectively.
Mariyam Mohammed Sifan paced Maldives after scoring half of the team’s points with nine.
Gilas tries to go for 2-0 when it takes on Lebanon on Tuesday, June 25.
