After escaping by the skin of their teeth against South Korea, Gilas Pilipinas Girls face yet another heavyweight foe in China as they aim to advance to the semifinals of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup on Friday at the Arena Seremban in Seremban, Malaysia.
The Filipinas are expected to have a tough time in their 7 p.m. (Manila time) encounter against a taller, heftier and more skilled Chinese squad in the quarterfinals of this prestigious continental meet.
They started their campaign on a sour note with a 42-123 defeat to Australia before suffering a 48-74 setback to Chinese Taipei that put them on the verge of getting eliminated.
But the hard-fighting Filipinas refused to give up.
Tiffany Reyes, the 15-year-old daughter of former Philippine Basketball Association player JR Reyes from De La Salle Zobel, nailed a buzzer-beater to eke out a 77-75 win over South Korea for their first win in three games that gave them a spot in the playoffs.
Gilas coach Julie Amos told DAILY TRIBUNE that the victory over the Koreans boosted their confidence heading into the kill or be killed encounter with the mighty Chinese, who won two of their three matches in the eliminations.
“Well, everybody is more motivated and determined. We saw that they really fought hard,” said Amos, a former national team star who is serving as one of the assistant coaches of Patrick Aquino.
“For the past two games, we have been limited to making good assists. We were playing solo at the beginning, so that’s what we realized.”
After averaging 24 turnovers in their first three matches, Amos said they need to be careful with the ball if they wanted to reach the semifinals and gain a rematch against the powerhouse Australian squad.
“If we won’t trust each other and we won’t play at the same time, we will never win. So, we just told them that we need to be flexible,” Amos said.
Ella Smith is expected to lead the Gilas Girls after averaging 12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists while Reyes had 10.3 points. They are expected to stand their ground against the Chinese bannered by Yuanshan Li, who averages 20.3 points in three games.