Gilas Women suffer another heartbreaker against Australia

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After China’s 91-point crushing victory against the Gilas Pilipinas women, the struggle continues for the Filipinas after receiving another heartbreaking loss against Australia, 120-56, during the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Amman, Jordan.

It was another David vs. Goliath affair as the Filipinas faced the towering Australians for four grueling quarters.

Size disparity was once again the issue as the Gilas Women tried all their best to box out the larger Australian squad but couldn’t sustain their efforts up to the last minute of the game.

Gilas was actually within striking distance in the first quarter, 20-30, when they consistently buried their three-point bombs.

However, the more-experienced Australian team answered back with a blitzing 17-0 scoring spree that left the Filipinas in a deep hole which they couldn’t climb out of.

“It’s really tough. It’s a tough group we’re in, and I think being the smallest among the group, and having a game with those more experienced players, we tried to get there,” said Gilas Women head coach Pat Aquino.

Filipina veteran shooter Janine Pontejos led the Gilas women in scoring with 13 points backstopped by Kristine Cayabyab with 10 points off the bench.

“We’d like to move on, adjust, and probably just compete. That’s the main purpose here, compete. I think with those two tough games that we’ve had, we’ll have another day of competing,” added Aquino.