HANOI – The Gilas Pilipinas women's team is living by the age-old basketball mantra "defense wins championships", or in this case, a SEA Games gold medal.
After winning their first gold in the 2019 edition of the Games in Manila, head coach Pat Aquino said that their work on the defensive end is what will key them to successfully retaining the crown.
Evidence of this was their 93-77 win over Indonesia, where the Filipina cagers stamped outclassed their opponents — forcing misses and turnovers left and right.
"They had a great game defending," Aquino said after the game in Thanh Tri Gymnasium.
"We had like 18 steals, [and] forced them to 23 turnovers. Yun yung advantage natin eh," he added.
While having gunners the likes of Afril Bernardino and Janine Pontejos, Aquino is keen on preaching a defensive mindset still.
According to the decorated tactician, defensive stops will be key to create chances on the other end.
"If we play good defense, that's our offense coming into the game," said Aquino.
The effectiveness of Gilas' defense already reaped benefits against Indonesia as they were able to score 23 points off of turnovers.
Running in transition was also a viable option for the Filipinas who had 14 markers off of the fast break.
Gilas will once again try to lean on their defense when they face silver medalists Thailand in their next game on Wednesday, May 18.