THE Gilas Pilipinas Under-18 team is heading to Division A after scoring an emphatic 95-64 win over Lebanon in the final of Division B competitions at the Futian Sports Park in Shenzhen, China.
The Filipinas caught fire from downtown, banging in 15 of 38 attempts, as they blew the game wide open as early as the second quarter. Powered by a 17-0 run, Gilas took a 33-9 lead in the second period and never looked back.
Alyssa Kae Rodriguez led the charge with 22 points, powered by her torrid six-of-10 clip from three-point range. Alicia Margaret Villanueva chipped in 15 points and Naomi Natalie Panganiban added 13 markers.
The Philippine team did a tremendous job sharing the ball with 23 assists while playing a suffocating defense, picking up a whopping 23 steals, forcing 31 turnovers in total, and converting these into 39 points on the other side.
It was a dominant run for the Philippine belles after their third place finish in the competition’s last edition in 2022.
They defeated Maldives (141-18) and Lebanon (89-63) in the group stage before whipping Samoa in the semifinals 71-47.
“The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is proud of our U18 squad and how they represented the country,” SBP President Al Panlilio said. “Getting promoted to Division A means they will get to test themselves against world-class opponents such as China, Australia, and Japan and this will be a better gauge to determine where our program is and what we need to improve on.”
Led by coaches Julie Amos and Patrick Aquino, the squad will now head up to Division A to take on stronger opposition in the next edition of the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup.
“The performance of our U18 team means that we have a rich pool of talent in women’s basketball and, perhaps more importantly, we have the system to find this talent, put a team together, and maximize their potential,” said SBP executive director Erika Dy. “This is a big step forward for our women’s program because we’re looking at these young athletes as the future of Gilas Pilipinas Women.”
