Women to Philippines rescue

MANILA, Philippines — Finally, a breath of fresh air for a Philippine contingent that’s been seeing bleak results in the early days of the 20th Asian Games.

And it came from the country’s female aces in basketball and football.

Gilas Pilipinas Women stifled Kazakhstan with its breakneck pace and relentless backcourt pressure defense to hammer out an 86-58 rout yesterday at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya.

The 28-point romp was not only a strong opening salvo and tone-setter for the cagebelles in Group B, but more importantly served as a balm for the bruised pride of Philippine basketball, which took a major blow with Gilas Men’s unceremonious fall from the throne last Monday.

Making a big push for the Last-8, the celebrated Filipinas booters handled business with a 2-nil victory over Hong Kong in Gifu City, over 30 kilometers to the north, last night at the Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium.

Skye Leach blasted the opening goal off a blocked header by Inday Tolentin in the 12th minute then Mallie Ramirez, granddaughter of former PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, followed with a crafty finish off a cross by Megan Murray in the 63rd en route to the important three points.

Over at the Nagoya Higashi Sports Center, 14-year-old Prince Agustin fought his way through the repechage in teqball to earn a shot at a bronze, which would be the country’s first medal in the games and the first in the budding discipline.

A major upgrade from the scary 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan three days ago, the two-goal win solidified the reigning Southeast Asian Games queens’ standing at No. 2 in Group G with four points.

The Mark Torcaso-coached side are level on points with China (also with one win and one draw), which takes pole position on goal difference, +4 against the Philippines’ +2 GD. Uzbekistan, which played the Chinese to a 1-1 stalemate earlier, runs third with two points.

It was a milestone night for Filipinas skipper Hali Long, who marked her 108th appearance for the national team - tying Azkals legend Phil Younghusband’s all-time record.

Disadvantaged in height, Gilas Women turned to its speed, pace and relentless hustle plays and defending end-to-end to get the job done against the Kazakhs.

The Filipinas’ tenacious defense led to a whopping 26 steals, forcing their opponents to 34 turnovers and cashing in with 28 easy points. Their running game in full throttle, the cagebelles scored 28 in transition.

In a debut-to-remember, naturalized player Elizabeth Means stood at the forefront of Gilas Women’s offense and defense with 23 markers spiked by three triples and a game-high eight steals.

Stefani Berberabe was rock solid in the backcourt, issuing eight dimes to go with her 11 points and five steals as forward Karl Ann Pingol had six steals and four rebounds while scoring six.

Gilas Women wasted little time taking control, 25-9, and led by as many as 39 at 79-40, en route to the victory. The BT Toews-coached squad goes for back-to-back on Sunday against Hong Kong to try to firm up their quarters bid ahead of their big showdown with powerhouse Japan on Tuesday.

The twin win made up for the four-set loss suffered by Alas Pilipinas to Kazakhstan hours earlier in women’s volleyball over at the Okazaki Sogo Park.

The Pinay spikers essayed a stirring comeback in the first set but failed to sustain the momentum and yielded to the Kazakhs, 29-27, 24-26, 23-25, 19-25, in a do-or-die encounter in Group B.

The defeat, which came a day after their 18-25, 22-25, 8-25 loss to China, was catastrophic as it booted the Filipinas out of the quarterfinal picture, dashing their hopes of matching their eighth-place finish in the previous Asiad in Hangzhou. — Joey Villar