Gilas Girls struggle in U16 Asia Cup A debut, fall to Australia

KUALA LUMPUR, September 23 ------ Gilas Pilipinas Girls received a rude welcome in its Division A debut after suffering a 123-42 rout at the hands of Australia in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup 2025 opener at the Karisma Arena here.

Winners of the Division B competitions back in 2023, the Philippine team fell to a 14-4 deficit early before finding itself trailing massively, 62-22, at the half as the crew simply couldn’t find any solution to their bigger and faster foes.

Coach Julie Amos & Co. faced a Sapphires team motivated to achieve an unprecedented ‘four-peat’ in the tilt, and the latter clearly wasted no time signifying its intentions of accomplishing as much with the flat-out domination. Makena Ramos made 16 points while Ryanna Roman added 10 as the two were the only players in double figures for the Gilas Girls — a far cry from the kind of production that their counterparts from Oceania made.

A total of five Aussies scored in double-digits in their wire-to-wire victory, with Marianela Fakalata leading the way with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Fakalata went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, including one that put Australia past the century mark, 101-32, to open the final period. Madison Ryan finished with 17 points, while the tandem of Sophie Richardson and Laura Seiz both came off the bench and produced 15 points apiece.

Richardson scored 10 of her points in the first quarter alone as she bannered the early breakaway toward seizing the early lead in Group A. Eden Ctip chipped in 12 points in the victory, which saw all 12 players coached by Tom Garlepp score at least two points, thanks to their 36 assists. The Philippines finished with only four assists, and the situation was made worse by its poor ball handling, which resulted in 24 turnovers.

Gilas Girls will face another contender in Chinese Taipei tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23, at 2:00 PM, hoping to put up a much better showing.

Source: tiebreakertimes.com.ph