Gilas Pilipinas Women end Jones Cup run with tough loss to Chinese Taipei A

Gilas Pilipinas Women suffered yet another heartbreaking end to their Jones Cup campaign after absorbing a tough 82-66 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei A on Wednesday in Taiwan. 

The nationals will exit the tournament with a 2-2 record as Japan Universiade will bag the championship after going unbeaten in five games while Chinese Taipei A wound up at second place. 

Naomi Panganiban continued her brilliance in her seniors team debut, finishing with a team-high 19 points on top of four rebounds and two assists while Afril Bernardino and Stefanie Berberabe each tallied 12 in the losing effort. 

The 18-year-old Panganiban tried to rally the Filipinas, burying a buzzer-beating triple to end the penultimate period with just a 13-point deficit for the visitors, 62-49. 

Berberabe then continued the rampage, nailing four straight points to cut the gap to a single digit, 62-53. But the Chinese Taipei A caught fire from downtown, unleashing three triples to make it a 77-62 cushion to complete the victory. 

Lin Yuting shot two triples to finish with 15 points while Xu Shihan was perfect from the rainbow country, soaring for three triples to grab nine markers. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News