By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas women’s national basketball team failed to replicate its valiant effort over the world no. 8 Brazil after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Hungary, 97-60, during the FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-qualifying tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.
Unlike their high offensive percentage outing against Brazil, the Filipinas failed to find the mark against Hungary and got exposed in the paint throughout the game.
Gilas went down by as much as 39 points and already waved the white flag with four minutes still remaining in the final quarter of the game.
The Filipinas kicked off their game against Hungary hounded by turnover problems and were salty in shooting the leather.
With the unfortunate sequence of events, Gilas entered a huge hole at the end of the first quarter and already had problems executing their desired plays.
Hungary then banked on its huge front court that plagued Gilas in early foul trouble, leading the opposition to early trips to the free-throw line.
Despite Afril Bernardino’s spark provided in the third frame, Gilas couldn’t cut their deficit to as low as 15 points entering the fourth period.
The veteran Gilas sniper led Gilas in the loss, contributing 11 points, six rebounds, and four steals backstopped by Ella Fajardo who chipped in 10 markers.
Meanwhile, Jack Animam, Gilas’ superstar, didn’t reach double digits in scoring and got limited to just six points, which was her worst scoring performance in Rwanda so far.
Against Brazil, Animam was a beast on both ends of the floor, tallying an all-around efficient performance of 18 points, 21 rebounds, and four blocks.
