MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas Women ended its campaign in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup with a come-from-behind 74-70 victory over India on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the at Prince Hamza Hall in Amman, Jordan.
Khate Castillo drilled seven triples and finished with 22 points while Janine Pontejos added 22 points, including four treys, to go with five rebounds and two assists.
Afril Bernardino, meanwhile, was held to just nine points but provided the other intangibles – 11 rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and four blocks.
The victory was a huge relief for the Patrick Aquino-mentored national crew. They maintained the Philippine status at the Division A in women’s basketball.
Prior to the victory that handed them the seventh place in the competition, Gilas Pilipinas Women dropped all of its three games in the group stage against China (143-52), Australia (120-56) and Chinese Taipei (93-52).
“In the past three games we struggled. But today they played together as a team. It was a good victory,” said Aquino.
Trailing by as much as 10 points in the opening half, Gilas Pilipinas Women clawed its way back in the third quarter with a combined five three-pointers from Pontejos and Castillo to take a 55-49 lead.
India in the fourth trimmed the deficit to 67-65 after a bucket from Stephy Nixon. But back-to-back three-pointers from Castillo increased the Philippines lead to 73-65.
“I’m very, very happy with the girls. They didn’t stop competing,” said Aquino who was the head coach of the National University Lady Bulldogs women’s basketball team.
Pushpa Senthil Kumar topscored with 15 points and 12 rebounds as the India team sorely missed the services of top rebounder Navaneetha Pattemane Udayakumar./PN
