PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Gilas Pilipinas’ bid of capturing its third straight women’s basketball crown suffered a major blow as Indonesia hammered a masterful 89-68 victory in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games Friday at the Elephant Hall 2 of Morodok Techo National Stadium here.
Yuri Anggraeni, one of the longest-serving member of Indonesia’s women’s basketball squad, scattered 24 points laced with several backbreaking treys, while naturalized player Kimberly Pierre Louis added 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks to do most of the damage against the two-time champions Filipinas.
Coached by Chi-Wen Lin, former player of the national basketball team of Chinese Taipei, Indonesia was able to bounce back strong and made the necessary adjustments in coming up with press breakers.
The Indonesians fell behind by as many as nine points, 18-27, in the early part of the second period, but they outscored the Filipinas, 27-10, to slice the deficit to two at the half and dictate the tempo the rest of the way.
“It’s a tough loss,” said Gilas head coach Patrick Aquino, who drew 11 points from Janine Pontejos and 10 markers from Chack Cabinbin.
“Indonesia is a tough team. They’ve been together for three years.”
Adelaide Callista Wongsphardjo and Peyton Alexis Witthed, the squad’s naturalized player, made key contributions in delivering the knockout blow to the Gilas cagebelles, who still have to play their remaining three games — against Vietnam on Saturday, against Thailand on Sunday and against Malaysia on Monday — to determine where they would end up.
The loss of Afril Bernardino, who was left with a bloodied nose in the third period, was definitely a big blow for the Filipinas.
Indonesia, which now improved at 4-0, will still have to play two more games, including against Cambodia on Saturday at 3 p.m.
“I told them to never give up. We still have three games. We’ll never know what will happen,” Aquino said.
Even if the Indonesians lose to the Cambodians, they can still wrap up the gold medal as long as they prevail over Singapore, which is playing Cambodia at press time.
