In a battle of undefeated teams, San Juan and New Zealand-Bluefire Batangas put their perfect records on the line when they clash as the 2025 Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League regular season presented by Akari resumes on Sunday.
The Valkyries and the Lady Knights — the last two unbeaten squads in the six-team field — collide at 6 p.m. at the Rosario Cultural and Sports Center in Batangas as the league resumes play following a break for the FIBA 3×3 tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia.
New Zealand-Blufire Batangas now stands atop the standings with an immaculate 3-0 record, and will lean on the likes of Pringle Fabruada, Snow Peñaranda, and Afril Bernardino to lead them to a fourth consecutive victory in the tourney backed by Uratex, Black Mamba, Red Dynasty, Aktive Balls, and Pocari Sweat.
Valkyries head coach Cholo Villanueva is wary of how dangerous and well-coached San Juan is, which is why he’s making sure his team remains locked in and prepared for a grind-it-out battle this weekend.
“We’ll look and prepare for our next game [against San Juan]. That’s a very good, competitive team. We’re looking forward to that competition. They’re a well-structured team, well-coached by Coach Ai [Lebornio]. We’re gonna be preparing for them and we’ll want to dictate the game against them,” Villanueva said.
On the other hand, with team captain Janine Pontejos still uncertain to rejoin the squad due to personal reasons, the responsibility of leading the Lady Knights (2-0) will once again fall on the shoulders of veteran guard Chack Cabinbin, who is coming off a 24-point performance in their win over Tagaytay-Tol.
Expected to help ease the load on Cabinbin are the trio of Hazel Panti, Florence Talas, and Rejoice Adlawan, who all had solid contributions in the previous outing.
In the opening game of the double-header, the struggling Perlas (0-2) look to finally break into the win column, while RK Hoops-Quezon City (1-2) aims to bounce back after a stinging 54-point loss to New Zealand-Blufire Batangas.
Discovery-Rizal, coached by Derrick Pumaren, will once again rely on the trio of Allana Lim, Tantoy Ferrer, and Raiza Palmera-Dy, while RK Hoops-Quezon City will bank on Caryl Molina, Bernalyn Aragon, and Cara Buendia to lead the charge.
