GILAS Pilipinas girls cruised past Jordan, 106-58, to complete a group sweep and book a semifinal ticket in the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Division B yesterday at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, Jordan.
All players scored anew for the Nationals as they easily wiped out Group A after demolishing Hong Kong, 79-40, and Maldives, 144-22, in the first two matches.
Gilas notched a whopping winning margin of 69.6 points in the group stage for massive momentum entering the crossover Final Four against the second-ranked team from Group B, which will be either Malaysia or Singapore.
The Philippines took on the same route in 2022 by sweeping the group play only to be foiled by eventual Division B winner Samoa in the semifinals.
Gilas is looking good to not repeat history this time though as it unleashed another balanced attack led by Kimi Sayson with 19 points, four rebounds, six assists and seven steals.
Ms. Sayson was the third different leading scorer for Gilas after Ava Fajardo against Hong Kong and Sophia Canindo versus Maldives.
Ms. Fajardo (17), Nevaeh Smith (15) and Ryan Kelly Nair (11) pumped in key contributions with Demicah Arnaldo and Scarlett Mercado adding 10 each.
Zena Sameh Suleiman Alkarain had 26 points for Jordan, which finished with a 1-2 card. — John Bryan Ulanday