RP 5 raps Thais, eyes crown today

MANILA, Philippines - Host Philippines turned to its torrid shooting to turn back Thailand in a non-bearing elimination encounter, 83-57, yesterday and gain the pyschological edge entering the finals of the seventh SEABA Women’s Championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Discovery Perlas ng Pilipinas cagebelles fired 11-of-14 from the three-point range, a sizzling 79 percent, as they swept the preliminaries with a 4-0 slate. The defending champion Thais wound up with a 3-1 card.

The Filipinas seek to make it two in a row against the Thais today at 4 p.m. in their winner-take-all match for the crown.

“This win is a big lift psychologically. We hope we can carry this good game over to the finals. If we can just duplicate this kind of performance, then we’ll have a good chance,” RP coach Haydee Ong said.

Skipper Sylvia Marie Valencia knocked in back-to-back triples followed by another by Bernadette Mercado in a 9-4 second quarter windup that put the hosts ahead at 43-36.

Melissa Jacob and Joan Grajales then kicked off the third with a three-pointer each as the RP five posted its first double-digit lead at 49-36. They went on to stretch that to 65-49 on back-to-back treys by Valencia and Angeli Gloriani to end the third period.

“Our outside shooting clicked and we played good defense. Hopefully we’ll be consistent on these aspects again tomorrow (today),” said Ong.

Thailand’s Chinese coach Xuan Min Zhao vowed a much more competitive Thai side in the finale. “It’s not going to be the same game tomorrow (today),” he said.

Although more of a “feeling-out” game, Ong said they got a pretty good view of what the Thais will bring to the table in the gold medal match.

“Based on our scouting report, he (Thai coach) brought out his team’s strength today (yesterday), especially in the shaded lane. That’s where we need to make adjustments on,” said Ong, whose wards failed to contain Thai center Banmoo Naruemol (game-high 21 points).

In the first game, Malaysia shellacked winless Singapore, 85-57, to finish with a 2-2 slate.