WNBL semis on today

MANILA, Philippines — The PSI Lady Air Defenders and the Go For Gold-Philippine Navy start off the Women’s National Basketball League-Pilipinas (WNBL) semifinals at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga today.

The second-seed Lady Air Defenders and the third-seed Lady Sailors clash at 2 p.m. to begin their best-of-three series.

PSI-Air Force ended the elimination round with a 6-2 win-loss record to take the No. 2 position in the semifinals. arranging a showdown with Go For Gold-Philippine Navy, which finished at third with a 4-4 win-loss record.

Cindy Resultay, who is averaging 19.8 points for the season, has been leading the Lady Air Defenders, who won six straight games entering the semifinals.

The Lady Sailors hope to break the Lady Air Defenders’ winning streak and take the series opener with Janelle Mendoza expected to play a key role in the semifinals after averaging 11.6 points for the season.

On Sunday, top-seed Taguig goes up against Philippine Army at 2 p.m. at the San Fernando venue.

In the men’s side, the NBL quarterfinals resume with the Quezon Barons facing the Laguna Pistons at 4 p.m. and the Bulacan Damayang Filipino Republicans going up against the Pampanga Delta at 6 p.m.

For the quarterfinals, the six remaining teams have been bracketed into two groups and will play a round robin with No. 1 Taguig Generals, No. 3 Quezon Barons, and No. 6 Laguna Pistons in Group A, and No. 2 Bulacan Republicans, No. 4 Pampanga Delta, and No. 5 Paranaque Aces in Group B.

The lowest-seeded team must sweep their games in the round-robin quarterfinals in order to advance. With the Pistons being the lowest-ranked team in Group A, Laguna must win all its games in the quarterfinals including Saturday’s clash against Quezon in order to clinch a semifinal berth.

Bulacan and Pampanga, meanwhile, are chasing for the top spot in Group B, with the Republicans only needing a victory to secure that position after finishing with an 8-1 win-loss card in the eliminations.