Perlas Pilipinas head coach Pat Aquino. Photo from Fiba.com
KUALA LUMPUR — Perlas Pilipinas came away with an 88-54 rout of Singapore, but head coach Pat Aquino was still not happy about it.
Aquino felt the Philippine women’s team needed to play with more discipline and hard work despite the team applying full-court pressure all throughout the game and converting baskets in the open floor.
“I told them that we need to defend very well so we can execute our offense well,” Aquino said of his team’s opening day win in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games here.
He singled out Afril Bernardino, the towering forward, who topscored with 16 points.
“She really came out to play tonight, in the Fiba-Asia she was missing but tonight she deserved being the top scorer,” added Aquino.
Providing help was Janine Pontejos and Camille Sambile who had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
“We have a gruelling schedule so we need to be on our feet always,” said Aquino.
Perlas plays Indonesia on Monday.