Gilas Women is not losing hope in its bold bid even after absorbing a 115-66 defeat at the hands of Paris Olympics silver medalist and world No. 3 France at the start of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournament on Thursday at the Astrobelle in Lyon.

Head coach Patrick Aquino said he is proud of his girls for giving their all against the powerhouse host nation.

The French set the tone of the match as early as the first quarter as they erected a 24-9 lead going into the second canto and never looked back.

“First, I’m very happy that the girls never gave up. If you think about the last parts of the game, there’s the feeling that we could have done better — not just as a group but individually,” Aquino said.

“For me as well, gaining this much experience will be beneficial for us in the long run.”

The Philippines is playing without key players Naomi Panganiban and Jack Animam, who are currently in the United States and Japan, respectively.

Bannered by Seattle Storm forward and All-Women’s National Basketball Association Rookie Team Dominique Malonga, who scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, the French were unstoppable.

France imposed its height against the Gilas Women, grabbing 49 rebounds and converted 20 second-chance points.

For Sumayag Sugapong, she hopes the loss would serve as fuel for them as they attempt to make a dent ij the tournament.

Gilas Women are facing World Cup host Germany at press time.

“Yeah, I mean, we’re a really young team overall. So a lot of us were playing a team of that caliber for the first time — a team ranked in the world like that. I think we just have to learn from all the mistakes we made today and carry that into our game against Germany tomorrow and into the rest of the week,” Sugapong said.

“There are definitely a lot of learning points we can build off.”