SEREMBAN — Gilas Pilipinas Girls settled for a sixth-place finish in its maiden FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup campaign after bowing to Chinese Taipei anew, 103-72, in a classification bout at the Karisma Arena here Saturday.
Still reeling from their blowout loss to China last night, the Philippine team fell to a sluggish start and found themselves staring at a 21-7 deficit before completely losing their grip in the ensuing period, as the opposition vented their ire on the Division A newcomers.
The team from East Asia was determined to finish its run strongly after falling short of reaching the Semifinals when its comeback bid was foiled by New Zealand.
Chinese Taipei did just that, ultimately finishing fifth in the 2025 competitions at the expense of the very same team they handed a harsh 74-48 beatdown to back in the Group Phase as both teams belonged in Group A.
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The Filipina dribblers, on the other hand, will head back home with a 1-4 win-loss record, with their lone win coming at the expense of Korea–a 77-75 decision that propelled the crew to the Qualification to Semi-Finals.
As tough as their finish was, Coach Julie Amos & Co. still did enough to keep the program in the competition’s top division, a position earned by the current batch’s predecessors by ruling the Division B competitions in 2023,
Ryanna Roman led the way with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Makena Ramos supplied 14 points, alongside five rebounds and six assists.
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Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, leaned on the all-around brilliance of Gao Ziqiao, who finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, and 11 assists.
Gao indeed saved her best for last as she submitted her finest showing of the tournament, in which she also had three steals to finish with an efficiency of 44.
Chang Yutung came through with a double-double of her own with 19 points and 10 rebounds, which she laced with six assists and four steals.
Lin Nianzhen came through with 16 points, spiked by four triples. Chang Hsunwen added 11 points as a total of nine players scored at least a field goal, all thanks to a concerted effort to share the ball as proven by their 34 assists.
