By MARK REY MONTEJO
Gilas Pilipinas Women bowed to Chinese Taipei A, 82-66, and settled for fourth place in the final day of the women’s competition of the 43rd William Jones Cup at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City, Wednesday, July 10.
Despite the efforts of Pinay dribbler Naomi Panganiban, the Filipinas failed to overcome the huge gap after the host created enough separation and maintained it until the final buzzer to take the silver medal in the week-long tournament.
Gilas finished its campaign with 2-3 records and was tied with Chinese Taipei B, but the latter secured the bronze due to superior point differential.
Japan captured the gold after sweeping the tournament at 5-0. Thailand also had a 2-3 record but was relegated to fifth place while Malaysia went winless in five games.
Though they did not reach the podium, the Filipinas made an improvement after wrapping up their stint with a 1-4 record last year.
Prior to their defeat, Gilas outlasted the Malaysians (74-63) and the Thais (68-58) while also giving a scare to eventual champions Japanese (85-83).
Panganiban carried the scoring cudgels for Gilas as she fired 19 points while Stefanie Berberabe and Afril Bernardino added 12 apiece. Jack Animam added eight points and nine rebounds in a losing cause.
The Nationals did not go down without a fight as they launched a counterattack that pulled them to within nine, 53-62, early in the fourth.
But the Taiwanese regained their consciousness and unloaded the final run that hiked their lead to 18, 80-62.
Yu-Ting Lin starred for the host nation after topping their scoring column with 15 while Tieh Lin backed her up with 14.
