FIBA Asia Cup 2025: Gilas Women absorb 76-point beating from Australia

Gilas Pilipinas Women opened their 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup campaign in Group B on a sour note as they were dealt a 115-39 beating by Australia at the Shenzhen Sports Center in Shenzhen, China on Sunday, July 13. No Gilas Women player reached double-digit scoring in the 76-point blowout as Filipino-American guard Vanessa de Jesus paced the Philippines with 9 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Kent Pastrana (2000) and Naomi Panganiban (170-G-2006) scored 8 points each on a combined 7-of-24 field goal clip, while Gilas Women star center Jack Animam came up with only 2 points after missing 10 of her 11 attempts. On the other side, all 11 players fielded in by Australia managed to put up a basket in the wire-to-wire win that saw the Opals immediately jump out to a 12-0 lead in the first two minutes of the contest, before pushing the gap to 28 points at halftime, 53-25. Miela Goodchild (180-G-2000, college: Duke) led all scorers with 19 points, while Sara Blicavs (189-F-1993) and Chloe Bibby (185-C/F-1998, college: Maryland) dropped 17 and 16 markers, respectively, for Australia, the second ranked team in the world. Overall, the Opals shot a very efficient 46-of-76 field goal clip, compared to the Filipinas’ 17-of-63 shooting. Australia also heavily outrebounded the much-smaller Gilas Women, 57-21. Another tough challenge awaits the 44th-ranked Gilas Women as they go up against No. 9 Japan on Monday, July 14, at 7:30 pm. Japan narrowly defeated Lebanon in the other Group B matchup on Sunday, 72-68.
Courtesy of: rappler.com