By REYNALD MAGALLON
What was expected to be an easy outing turned out to be a nightmare for Gilas Pilipinas U16 as they absorbed a crushing 88-73 defeat to the Samoans in the semis of the FIBA U16 women’s Asian Championship Division B at the Prince Hamza Arena in Jordan on Wednesday, June 29.
The PH belles came into the game with huge psychological advantage over the taller and heftier Samoans, who they dominated 94-65 in their group stage meeting a couple of days ago.
But in the game that staked a Division A promotion, the PH belles uncharacteristically lost their shooting touch paving the way for Samoans’ great redemption.
With the loss, Gilas lost its shot at the promotion and will battle for the third place against the loser of the match between Lebanon and Syria.
Kira-May Filemu proved to be the biggest thorn to the side of Gilas as she exploded for 36 oints to lead his team to an upset win.
After leading the scoring in the tournament with a 97.4 points per game, the Filipina cagebelles struggled to find the mark in their rematch as they were limited to just 73 points in the loss.
Kristan Yumul, who was the second-leading scorer in the tournament with 25 points per game in three outings in the group stage, went ice cold with just 13 points on a measly 5-of-20 shooting from the field, including 3-of-15 clip from beyond the arc.
Gabbi Ramos, on the other hand, after averaging 17.3 points and 14.7 rebounds in the group stage was limited to just eight points and eight rebounds. Natalie Panganiban and Ava Fajardo carried the fight for the Filipinas, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively.
However, a horrendous first half spelled doom for the Filipinas, particularly in the second quarter where Gilas allowed Samoa to build a double-digit lead which it never relinquished the rest of the way.
In that stretch, the Samoans had their way on both ends of the floor, limiting the Filipinas to just 12 points while unloading 28 on the offensive end.
Gilas tried to recover from the huge 53-30 halftime deficit but the Samoans had every answer to its basket.
Gilas made some headway midway through the final frame when it cut the lead down to just 13, 74-61, but proved to be the closest Gilas could get as Samoa restored order to advance to the finals.
