The Gilas Pilipinas’ valiant effort in the 19th Asian Games ended at the hands of familiar tormentor South Korea, 93-71, in the women’s 5-on-5 basketball tournament at the Shaoxing Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium on Monday, Oct. 2.

The Nationals pour everything against the mighty Koreans but a slow start triggered the downfall for the Filipinas who saw their promising first Asiad stint since 1998 come to an end in the quarterfinals after two consecutive losses.

Gilas trailed by double digits in the opening frame and never really got the chance to put up a threat against the Koreans who consistently found holes to the Filipinas’ defense and kept them at bay.

The closest the Nationals got was 54-43 midway through the third but the Gilas run proved to be short-lived as the seasoned opponents easily restored order with timely hits.

Jisu Park and Lee Seul Kang formed a lethal inside-outside threat – a ploy that proved to be too hard to stop for the Filipinas as they finished with 15 points each to lead the way for the South Koreans.

Jihyun Park and Jihyun Shin contributed with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The Gilas’ loss came at the heels of a 37-point defeat against world powerhouse Japan, ending the tournament with an even 2-2 record.

Khate Castillo paced the Filipinas with 18 points – all of which she scored from the distance while Jack Animam added a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Their efforts, however, went down the drain as they couldn’t prevent Gilas from suffering the same fate against the South Koreans who also defeated them in this year’s edition of the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.