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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Tale of two halves for Gilas Women: 'We gave the game away'

Tale of two halves for Gilas Women: 'We gave the game away'

Published Aug 19, 2026 01:44 pm

At A Glance

  • It was a tale of two halves for the Gilas Pilipinas women's team as head coach BT Toews rued the team's inability to sustain his team's hot start in its 58-61 opening day loss to host Mexico.

It was a tale of two halves for the Gilas Pilipinas women’s team as head coach BT Toews rued the team’s inability to sustain his team’s hot start in its 58-61 opening day loss to host Mexico.

The Nationals led by as many as 15 through the first half but completely collapsed in the last two quarters, allowing the Mexicans to pull off the comeback win.

“I think we all feel that we gave that game away. I don't want to take anything away from Mexico because they played a good second half but we feel that we gave that game away,” said Toews

“I thought we have a locker room of really disappointed people right now,” he admitted.

Despite being the relatively smaller team, the Nationals won the rebounding in the first half and controlled the paint. The team also managed to run in transition, leading to a 37-25 lead.

“With a healthy lead, the things we talked about at halftime were to continue to do those things well in the second half.And the only other thing we really have to improve on was better flow in our offense because I thought it was very poor,” the newly minted national team coach pointed out.

“But in the second half, everything turned upside down,” he added.

Even still, Gilas was ahead comfortably, 57-47, midway through the final frame but the Nationals committed crucial turnovers that fueled a telling 14-1 finishing kick for the Mexicans.

“We lost the rebounds. We lost the paint points. We lost the turnovers we lost i think every category and yet we were still ahead,” said Toews

“And in the time where we need to close as a team, we continue to make silly mistakes like offensive fouls on screening at least two and three. It was just a parade to the free throw line (for Mexico),” he added.

Gilas will try to bounce back against Canada on Thursday, Aug. 20, but that game would be an entirely bigger mountain climb for the Filipinas. The Canadians are currently the No. 7 best team in the world and are coming off a 72-57 thrashing of Senegal.

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