SEA Games: Perlas Pilipinas' gold medal dreams shattered after loss to Indonesia

The Philippine national women's basketball team saw its gold medal hopes dashed on Friday after yielding a 61-56 result to Indonesia in the Southeast Asian Games.

 

Perlas Pilipinas collapsed after a solid start, giving the squad its second loss in the round-robin tournament.

 

“I don’t know, think we just had a bad day, our worst game in the last three month,” said coach Patrick Aquino. “But I won’t take anything against my girls because they did really play hard.”

 

The Pinays opened strong, taking a 21-9 advantage after the opening period. But the second and third quarters belonged to Indonesia, which took a 46-38 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

 

Perlas tried to mount a rally, but ran out steam down the stretch.

 

“We had a tough game against Thailand, then had to beat Vietnam comprehensively, followed by that hard game against Malaysia,” said Aquino, whose team played its fourth game in as many days. “Baka napagod sa mga sunod-sunod na laban.  Marami na rin sa kanila ang may iniinda.”

 

Raiza Rose Palmera paced the Philippines with 12 points.

 

Nathasha Christialine led Indonesia with 19 points, while center Sophia Gabriel dominated with 18 points and 17 rebounds. —JST, GMA News