Gilas Pilipinas flexed its muscles and showed its readiness to compete in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.
On Tuesday, the Filipinas outplayed the Keilor Thunder, a club team from the Women’s National Basketball League Australia, 93-72, at the Keilor Stadium in Melbourne.
Khate Castillo came off the bench and hit four treys on her way to finishing with 16 points to lead the Filipinas’ onslaught.
Afril Bernardino and Jack Animam imposed their will as they combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds as they simply outmatched other front liners while new recruit Vanessa de Jesus immediately displayed her leadership skills barely a week since joining the Gilas women’s program as the Filipinas clobbered their Australian counterparts.
De Jesus contributed nine points on top of five assists while also completing two steals as her all-around plays were clearly felt by the team.
The player from Duke University quickly brought her veteran smarts as he took over the point guard spot and immediately made everybody on the team look good.
Gilas posted their biggest lead, 83-50, near the closing stage of the match. They had 48 bench points and their second unit proved to be too much against the second unit of their rivals, who could only come up with 26 points.
The Philippines also had 44 points inside the shaded lane, 16 more than its rivals.
