The short-handed Gilas Pilipinas Women’s squad suffered a harsh exit in the 2019 FIBA Asia-Oceania Women’s Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Sunday, bowing to China, 49-127, at the The Trusts Arena in New Zealand.
With this, the Philippines lost all three of its matches, with its first being a 54-111 beatdown from New Zealand. Then just yesterday, Patrick Aquino’s squad was dealt a 75-114 loss at the hands of South Korea that ended their OQT hopes.
This time, though, the Filipinas could not recover from a slow start.
The Chinese raced to a 15-2 lead and never looked back, ending the opening frame with an imposing 36-10 cushion.
China pounded the Philippines in the paint, shooting a high 64-percent within the three-point arc.
The Philippines never got going, scoring just 24 points in the middle quarters. Meanwhile, China had already breached the 100-point mark by the third canto.
China showed no mercy, leading by as much as 80 points in the contest.
Janine Pontejos was the sole double-digit scorer for the Philippines, tallying 16 points while knocking down two of the three treys of the Philippines.
Afril Bernardino and Kelli Hayes were limited to just eight and six points respectively, on a combined 6-of-29 clip.
Xu Han led China with 26 points, while Xuemeng Wang had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
A total of seven Chinese players scored in double-figures.
Up next for Gilas Women’s is the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
The Scores:
Philippines 49 – Pontejos 16, Bernardino 8, Castillo 7, Hayes 6, Nabalan 4, Chan 3, Cabinbin 3, Tongco 2, Jose 0.
China 127 – Han 26, Wang X. 14, Li Yue. 14, Huang 12, Wang S. 11, Sun 10, Yang 10, Gao 8, Pan 8, Li Yua. 8, Li M. 6.
Quarterscores: 10-36, 23-69, 34-103, 49-127.
