Pinays yield to Malaysians, face must-win bid vs Indons

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines suffered its first setback in the FIBA Asia Women’s Championship Level II tournament, a numbing 56-60 loss to Malaysia that stymied the Pinays’ bid for promotion to Level I of the continental cagefest yesterday in Bangkok.

Hours after an impressive 65-69 upset of Southeast Asian power Thailand Tuesday night, the Perlas Pilpinas  team came into yesterday afternoon’s outing against the Malaysians rather flat, particularly in the third quarter where they coughed up an anemic five-point production that gave the Malaysians a 47-36 upperhand.

The Pinay dribblers couldn’t fight their way back from there and slipped to 3-1 in a tie with Malaysia. The Philippines thus faces a must-win assignment today against Indonesia (2-1 at press time), in an effort to finish in the top 2 and qualify for the promotion playoffs. The top 2 teams of Level 2 will square off with the bottom two squads in Level 1 with spots to the elite level at stake.

Melissa Jacob and Analyn Almazan paced Perlas with 17 and 16, respectively, against Malaysia, which drew 17 points from Being Fong Goh.

The loss to Malaysia came a day after the Filipinas scored an ego-boosting triumph over SEAG tormentor Thailand, their third victim in the ongoing tourney after Hong Kong and Uzbekistan.

Almazan led the way for the Pinays against the host Thais, banging in 17 points and seven rebounds to spark their breakaway in the halfway point of the second quarter.

“We went in well prepared for them,” said Ong of the victory that somehow avenged the Filipinas’ sorry setback to the Thais in the 2011 SEAG that ultimately cost them the gold medal.

“We did a lot of work in our scouting and shutting out (top Thai player) Naruemol Banmoo,” Ong said, referring to the veteran whom they held down to five points. “We did a lot of work on what they do when she is on the court and when is on the bench. That went a long way in this win.”