At A Glance
- SANYA, China — The Gilas Pilipinas women's team copped a silver medal after absorbing a tough 21-13 defeat at the hands of China in the 3x3 basketball final in the 6th Asian Beach Games at the Sanya Gymnasium on Wednesday, April 29.
SANYA, China — The Gilas Pilipinas women’s team copped a silver medal after absorbing a tough 21-13 defeat at the hands of China in the 3x3 basketball final in the 6th Asian Beach Games at the Sanya Gymnasium on Wednesday, April 29.
The Nationals simply had no answer to the towering 6-foot-5 player Hengyu Yang who flexed her muscles inside against the smaller Filipina defenders.
Mika Cacho and Reynalyn Ferrer tried to carry the fight for the Filipinas with five and six points, respectively, but were simply not enough as the host quickly took a 13-7 advantage.
Still, the silver medal win remains the team’s best finish in the tournament after winning the breakthrough bronze in the 2012 edition.
The Filipinas assured themselves of the feat after taking the 20-13 win over Singapore in the semifinals.
Cacho starred in that contest, firing eight points — including three straight that allowed the Nationals to take a commanding 18-12 cushion with two minutes left.
Gilas, however, was not as fortunate on the men’s side as itdropped a heartbreaking 18-20 loss to Thailand in the semis before getting denied of the podium with a 13-21 loss to China.
A brave fightback against the Thais in the semis match just fell short as the Filipinos threatened 18-20 after trailing by 13-19. Gilas, however, just couldn’t get the much-needed baskets toward the end as Thailand pulled off the great escape.
Still recovering from the earlier defeat, Gilas tried to fight for the bronze medal but China pulled away from a tight 6-6 affair behind their hot shooting from deep.