Philips Gold turns back Shopinas

Philips Gold leaned on the clutch hits by team captain team captain Michelle Gumabao to survive tenacious Shopinas, 25-11, 16-25, 25-20, 13-25, 15-11, Wednesday night and register its third win in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Gumabao delivered most of her 15 points in the fifth set, including a spike that clinched the game, to help the Lady Slammers put away the Lady Clickers in protracted battle that saw Philips Gold having three other players scoring in double digits.

The win improved Philips Gold’s chances for the second final seat as it moved them to 3-4, while Shopinas fell to 3-3 in a tie at second place with idle Foton.

“It was a good game for us, everyone worked as a team,” said Philips Gold coach Francis Vicente. “All the things we planned we were able to execute.”

Power-hitter Myla Pablo led the Lady Slammers in scoring with 19 points, while Desiree Dadang and Iris Tolenada added 14 and 10 points, respectively. Shaya Adorador added nine.

Stephanie Mercado unloaded 19 points for Shopinas, which also got big numbers from Cha Cruz who had 13. Micmic Laborte and Kim Dy chipped in 9 points each for the Lady Clickers.

Vicente also credited Gumabao for her “revelation” of Shopinas’ “weakness,” which he said was pivotal in plotting the game plan.

Gumabao used to play under Shopinas’ coach Ramil de Jesus in the PSL and in the UAAP with La Salle.