Aquino looking to tap Fil-foreigners to beef up women’s basketball team

Photo from SEA Games Twitter.

SINGAPORE—Philippine women’s basketball team head coach Patrick Aquino is looking at the possibility of recruiting half-Filipinos or naturalized players on his team after finishing the 28th Southeast Asian Games out of the medal podium.

“We could probably tap Filipino-Americans or possibly naturalized players to strengthen the core of the team,’’ said Aquino after the Filipina cagers turned back Singapore, 82-72, before a dominant hometown crowd at the OCBC Arena here.

They missed the shot for the gold after a harrowing defeat at the hands of the Indonesians three days ago.

“It was a learning experience for a young team like ours. We’ll come out tougher next time around,’’ said Aquino.

Fil-American players Kelli Hayes of University of California Los Angeles, Janae Sharpe of UC State Northridge and Ella Rodriguez of the Citrus College Owles are among the prospects being considered to join the women’s national basketball team.

Malaysia, which absorbed its lone defeat in the six-nation tournament against the Philippines, clinched the gold while Indonesia settled for the silver after defeating eventual bronze medalist Thailand.

The women’s team, formed three months ago with a solid core of three holdovers and key players from the UAAP, slid to fourth following a pair of silver finishes in 2011 Indonesia and 2013 Burma (Myanmar) behind Thailand.

Down by eight at the start, the team formerly known as Perlas Pilipinas closed the gap heading into the dugout before charging ahead of the hosts in the final half.

UAAP MVP Afril Bernardino and Allana Lim had 17 points each and Merenciana Arayi, part of the previous double silver squad, added 16.

With another botched campaign, Arayi said she would possibly return for another stint in 2017 Kuala Lumpur.

Scores
PHILIPPINES 82—Lim 17, Bernardino 17, Arayi 16, Almazan 11, Sambile 8, Resultay 7, Palmera 6, Gupilan 0, Bernardo 0, Roman 0, Jose 0, Castro 0.
SINGAPORE 72—Poon 17, Yoshida 16, Lim 10, Koh 8, Lim R. 5, Li 5, See 5, Tan 4, Han 2.
Quarters: 18-26, 37-38, 60-56, 82-72.