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Gilas Pilipinas Women kick off their campaign in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup on a sour note as No. 2 Australia cruises to a 76-point romp
MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas Women opened their 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup campaign in Group B on a sour note as they were dealt a 115-39 beating by Australia at the Shenzhen Sports Center in Shenzhen, China on Sunday, July 13.
No Gilas Women player reached double-digit scoring in the 76-point blowout as Filipino-American guard Vanessa de Jesus paced the Philippines with 9 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Kent Pastrana and Naomi Panganiban scored 8 points each on a combined 7-of-24 field goal clip, while Gilas Women star center Jack Animam came up with only 2 points after missing 10 of her 11 attempts.
On the other side, all 11 players fielded in by Australia managed to put up a basket in the wire-to-wire win that saw the Opals immediately jump out to a 12-0 lead in the first two minutes of the contest, before pushing the gap to 28 points at halftime, 53-25.
Miela Goodchild led all scorers with 19 points, while Sara Blicavs and Chloe Bibby dropped 17 and 16 markers, respectively, for Australia, the second ranked team in the world.
Overall, the Opals shot a very efficient 46-of-76 field goal clip, compared to the Filipinas’ 17-of-63 shooting.
Australia also heavily outrebounded the much-smaller Gilas Women, 57-21.
Another tough challenge awaits the 44th-ranked Gilas Women as they go up against No. 9 Japan on Monday, July 14, at 7:30 pm.
Japan narrowly defeated Lebanon in the other Group B matchup on Sunday, 72-68.
The Scores
Australia 115 – Goodchild 19, Blicavs 17, Bibby 16, Woods 11, Fowler 11, Borlase 10, Ellis 8, Bourne 8, George 6, Reid 5, Aokuso 4.
Philippines 39 – De Jesus 9, Pastrana 8, Panganiban 8, Castillo 6, Sugapong 2, Surada 2, Ozar 2, Animam 2, Villanueva 0, Fajardo 0, Dela Rosa 0, Pagdulagan 0.
Quarters: 31-14, 53-25, 87-37, 115-39.
– Rappler.com
