By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It was a reversal of fortune for the Gilas Pilipinas women’s youth national basketball team after suffering defeat at the hands of the Samoan national squad whom they crushed in the last game of their elimination phase during the FIBA Under-16 Women’s Asian Championship.
After a 94-65 drubbing victory against Samoa in their last elimination win, the Filipina hoopers received a rude wake-up call upset in the semifinals and got outplayed, 88-73.
The Samoans kicked off the crucial duel with a renewed sense of urgency and were more energetic compared to their first encounter when they got schooled by the Filipinas in almost all facets of the game.
Gilas Pilipinas played behind from the start, and went down by seven points after the first quarter, 18-25.
Despite the tremendous defensive outing of the Filipinas after tallying 22 total steals, the Samoans went waxing-hot from the field and outscored Gilas with their efficient three-point shooting.
Samoa was led by main gunner Kira-May Filemu who led her team with a game-high 36 points built from 15/28 shooting from the field while also collecting 15 rebounds and four assists.
Filemu’s stellar outing spearheaded an insane 28-12 Samoan scoring run in the second period and ballooned their seven-point lead to 23 points after two quarters, 53-30.
It was all downhill for the Filipinas from that point and got worse in the next quarter after Samoa extended their lead to as much as 27 points.
Backstopping Filemu for Samoa was Sienna Tutani who filled the stat sheets with 11 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Meanwhile, Naomi Panganiban led the way for Gilas with 15 points, three rebounds, and three assists while sniper Kristan Yumul contributed 13 points.
