End of the road for Gilas Pilipinas women.
The Philippines bowed out of the Asian Games’ women’s five-a-side basketball quarterfinals after falling against Chinese Taipei, 83-71, Thursday at the Aichi International Arena in Japan.
Gilas put up a fight but ultimately ran out of fuel against Chinese Taipei.
Afril Bernardino topped Gilas with 23 points, seven rebounds and an assist in the loss, while Stefanie Berberabe and Janine Pontejos had 12 markers apiece.
After trailing by as much as 16 points, 42-58, in the third quarter after a deuce by Chen Yen-Yu, the Philippines stormed back with a 14-3 run capped by a Bernardino fast break finish to slice it to five, 56-61, with 29.8 seconds remaining in the frame.
But a 9-0 counter run, capped by a jumper by Peng, pushed Chinese Taipei back up 14, 70-56, with 9:15 left in the game.
The Philippines, though, tried to claw back anew. A Pastrana transition finish inched them closer, 64-72, with 5:45 remaining, but timely shots by Huang Ling-Chuan, Peng Szu-Chin, Han Ya-En and Chen kept themselves at arm’s length.
While Gilas tried to mount a comeback, they could not do so as they could not slice the deficit to single digit once again.
Hsiao Yu-Wen had a massive double-double of 14 points and 17 rebounds in the win. Huang added 13 points while Han finished with 11.
Kent Pastrana tallied 11 points off the bench. Naturalized player Elizabeth Means was held to just four points and three rebounds, as well as a game-worst +- of -27.
Chinese Taipei will now face either Japan or Thailand in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, China and Korea will take on each other for a finals spot.