Gilas Pilipinas Girls’ Sophia Canindo. –FIBA BASKETBALL
MANILA, Philippines—The Gilas Pilipinas Women’s Under-16 team demolished Maldives with a 122-point win, 144-22, in Group B of the Fiba U16 Women’s Asia Cup in Jordan on Tuesday night (Manila night).
The Gilas Girls made it two-for-two in pool play of the regional meet after defeating Hong Kong a day before, 79-40.
The Pat Aquino-led squad has virtually already secured a ticket to the semifinals as its worst finish in the group can still put the Filipinos at second spot. Only the top two teams in each group will be granted a ticket to the semis.
The Gilas Girls left absolutely no room for comfort for the Maldivians, forcing their opponents to 73 massive turnovers.
Maldives’ poor execution on offense led the Philippines to have ten players in total, who scored in double digits.
Sophia Canindo led the Philippines in the scoring column with a double-double of 21 points and 12 steals. Christina Lapasaran and Nevaeh Smith, meanwhile, scattered 16 points each in the victory.
Ava Fajardo, who was the leading scorer for the Gilas Girls in their last outing with 17 markers, kept up her string of stellar performances in the scoring department with 15 to go along with nine rebounds for a near double-double showing.
Up next for the Philippines is home bet Jordan later today.