Gilas Pilipinas Women got back at Malaysia, 77-63, to bring home the silver medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games basketball competitions, Monday at the Morodok Techo National Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
‘Splash Sisters’ Janine Pontejos and Khate Castillo bannered the Filipina dribblers’ early attack to set the tone for the wire-to-wire win en route to romping the same team that spoiled their bid of sweeping last year’s tilt in Vietnam.
The Philippines has secured its seventh women’s hoops silver in the biennial meet while dragging their foes to settle for bronze for the second time in a row.
Pontejos finished with game-high 24 points, scoring half of her output in the first quarter alone. She led Gilas to a 21-10 lead which they’d never waste.
The CEU legend was also responsible for bringing their lead to as high as 22, 51-29, as she set up Camille Clarin for a triple to open the third.
Castillo, on the other hand, finished with 18 points. The two combined for more than half of the team’s total production in the lopsided triumph.
Both players combined, too, for nine of the Filipinas’ 14 triples – the most they’ve had since nailing 18 in their 116-58 win over Vietnam last Saturday.
It was far from what happened in Hanoi last year, where the Malaysians fought back and foiled Gilas’ attempt of finishing the tourney undefeated. That time, they achieved a 96-93 result, although the latter had already secured the gold prior to the game.
Pang Hui Pin led Malaysia with 15 points, while Chong Yin Yin added 10 for the 13-time gold medalists, who last won the title in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Scores:
Philippines 77 – Pontejos 24, Castillo 18, Clarin 9, Bernardino 7, Cabinbin 6, Animam 6, Berberabe 4, Fajardo 3, Castro 0, Guytingco 0, Tongco 0
Malaysia 63 – Pang 15, Chong 10, Foo 6, Saw 6, Yap 6, Tan 5, Low 5, Chia 3, Ooi 3, Lee 2, Rajintiran 2, Yaakob 0.
Quarterscores: 21-10, 48-29, 60-48, 77-63.
