PH dribblers off to fine start
The Gilas Pilipinas Women’s team came out unscathed in its first two games to get a shot at advancing into the main draw of the 2024 FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup on Wednesday, March 27 at the Singapore Sports Hub.
Mikka Cacho and Jhazmin Joson took turns in leading the Filipinas to a perfect 2-0 slate after they clobbered Tahiti, 21-3 in the opening game before shrugging off a tough Maldives stand, 19-11 in the second game.
Like a diesel engine, the Filipinas took some time to heat up and get going but when they did there was simply no looking back as Joson and Cacho led the way in the dominant first win.
With five minutes already gone by and Tahiti sticking close, 5-3, Joson drained a booming deuce that opened the floodgates for the Filipinas.
Cacho then punished the defenders on her drives and allowed the team to score either on a layup or dishing out to an open teammate as Gilas went on a back-breaking 16-0 run.
Joson then caught fire from deep and nailed three more twopointers including the back-to-back deuce that ended the contest with 22.6 left.
Joson led the way with 10 points while Cacho added seven. Kaye Pingol had three points to his name while Camille Clarin contributed one point.
Unlike in their opening game, the Filipinos went off to a hot start and then fended off the tough stand of Maldives to take the top spot of the Group B in tie with fellow spotless team Kazakhstan.
Gilas executed its pick-androll to perfection as Cacho led the charge for the Filipinas who built an early 6-1 lead. The Nationals erected a 12-5 advantage before Maldives showed some semblance of fight cutting the lead down to just three, 12-9.
Back-to-back baskets from Cacho, however, easily restored order as Gilas ended the game on a 7-2 finishing kick.
With the win, Gilas is now in prime position to advance to the next round although it still needs to face and win against Kazakhstan to earn a spot in the main draw Pool C where third seed Mongolia and sixth seed Malaysia await.
Cacho sustained her hot start to the tournament finishing with eight points while Kaye Pingol also had her best game in the contest with eight points. Camille Clarin added two points while Joson, after torching the net with four deuces in the first game, cooled down with only one point to show.