For the first time in the history of the league, the PBA All-Star Weekend featured a Women’s 5-on-5 blitz game. Team Light took control for a 43-35 win over Team Dark at the Smart Araneta Coliseum prior to the main All-Star game Sunday evening.
Perlas Pilipinas players Analyn Almazan and Ewon Arayi led the Light crew with 14 and 13 points respectively. The two combined for 14 rebounds as well.
Despite coming off sickness, Almazan led all scorers but pointed the importance of such events saying, “magandang exposure ‘to. Maganda yung ganitong mga games para sa mga babae.”
Arayi, who is also a coach, added that it’s important to commend the ladies efforts in terms of playing the game and seeks to inspire viewers that the game selects everyone.
“Napakita naman po natin sa mga bata at sa mga nanunuod ngayon na kaya din po nating mga babae,” Arayi added. “Sabi ko nga na let’s not allow gender to hinder our desire to play basketball.”
The game was played with two 12-minute halves. Light team led majority of statistical category including rebounds, 32-26 and points off turnovers at 15-7. Moreover, Almazan and Arayi made the only two triples of the blitz game.
DLSU Lady Archer Ara Abaca led the losing Team Dark with 10 points, but became a crowd-pleaser with versatile moves in the second half. Chovi Borja added seven in the loss.
The Scores:
Light (43) – Almazan 14, Arayi 13, Ramos 7, Junsay 7, Confesor 2, Japitana 0, Suarez 0, Rala 0, Reyes 0, Vega 0.
Dark (35) – Abaca 10, Borja 7, Batnag 6, Geli 5, Mercado 4, Hufanda 1, Dela Merced 0, Mendoza 0, Torres 0.
Halfscores: 19-12, 43-35
