Afril Bernardino struggled early in Gilas Pilipinas Women’s 30th Southeast Asian Games clash with Malaysia, already picking up two personal fouls just five minutes into the match.
But as they say — it’s not how you start, but how you finish. And the 28-year-old exemplified that.
Bernardino made up for her bad start, eventually powering Gilas Pilipinas to a pulsating 81-75 victory over the erstwhile-defending champs to move on the cusp of bagging the gold.
The National University product finished with 18 points and a tournament-high 19 rebounds. She also had three assists, three blocks, and a steal in the 31 minutes and 16 seconds she played.
Fittingly, she was the one who settled the final count by sinking both of her free throws with 27 seconds left.
Those freebies capped off Gilas Women’s fightback from a six-point deficit, 68-74, with 5:31 left in the payoff period. Before that, the Filipinas had squandered a 12-point advantage in the third canto.
“Just so happy with the girls and sobrang proud ako sa kanilang lahat. Like Afril here, she’s not hitting well, but still, she kept on fighting,” lauded coach Pat Aquino of her forward.
Bernardino, though, gave credit to Aquino and her fellow flagbearers for giving her the extra push.
“Sa akin po is sobrang tulong din po sa akin ng teammates ko, especially Coach Pat po, kasi kahit anong pangit ng laro ko, they keep pushing me to play more and more,” she said.
“Hindi po nila ako sinukuan, so why po na sumuko din po ako to get the basketball for our defense, to help.”
The Filipina dribblers now have a chance to make history by winning the country’s first gold in SEAG women’s cage but standing in their way is Thailand, the silver medalist in 2017.
For Bernardino, defense and execution will be the major keys in their bid of reigning supreme in the region.
“Siguro po play good defense lang po and more talking inside, sa defense. And sana ma-execute namin ng maayos ‘yung plays na ituturo sa amin ni Coach Pat.”
