The Philippine Women’s Basketball National Team was overwhelmed by defending FIBA Asia Cup champions Japan to open its 2017 FIBA Asia Women’s Championship Division A campaign, 55-106, Sunday afternoon at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bangalore, India.
UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball Finals MVP Gemma Miranda finished with 17 points to lead Perlas Pilipinas. Former FEU Lady Tamaraw Allana Lim added nine points and five rebounds.
Perlas though shot a dismal 29.42 percent from the field, shooting just 20-for-68 from the field. Japan’s bench proved to be too much as well, totaling 70 points.
The Filipinas started slow as Japan raced to an early 9-0 lead.
After falling 17 points in the second quarter, Perlas was able to go on a rally capped by back-to-back triples from Gemma Miranda to cut the lead to just 11, 27-38, with 6:27 left in the first half.
Japan though displayed fluid ball movement to regain their momentum. The number-two ranked team in Asia finished with 28 fastbreak points while assisting on all but one of their field goal makes.
The defending champions led by as much as 59 points, 102-43, after a triple made by Evelyn Mawuli with 5:11 left in the game.
UAAP Season 79 Regular Season MVP Afril Bernardino and fellow NU Lady Bulldog Jack Animam finished with seven and six points respectively.
Mawuli finished with a game-high 21 points to lead six Japanese players in double-figures. Two Japanese players finished with a double-double as well with Sakura Akaho chipping in 12 points and 10 rebounds while Manami Fujioka grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out nine assists.
The Philippines was promoted to Division A after defeating India in the final of the 2015 FIBA Asia Cup in China. Perlas is currently the 49th ranked team in the world, ninth in Asia.
Perlas will next face Australia on Monday, July 24 at 1:30pm.
The Scores:
Perlas (55) – Miranda 17, Lim 9, Pontejos 8, Bernardino 7, Animam 6, Sambile 3, Tongco 3, Resultay 2, Cabinbin 0, Almazan 0, Dy 0, Castro 0.
Japan (106) – Mawuli 21, Kawamura 14, Akaho 12, Nagaoka 11, Osaki 11, Machida 10, Miyazawa 8, Mizushima 7, Kondo 6, Fujioka 6, Yoshida 0.
Quarterscores: 11-25, 31-56, 39-87, 55-106.
