Gilas girls eye finals berth in FIBA U16 Asian Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas girls attempt to elude a repeat of history when they shoot for a finals ticket against Malaysia in the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Final Four Saturday at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, Jordan.

The Nationals topped Group A via sweep for a collision course against Malaysia, the No. 2 team from Group B, in a still undetermined gametime pending the results of the classification matches Friday.

The Philippines will be eyeing to take care of business this time to move closer to a Division A promotion after a spoiled mission last edition also in Jordan, where it absorbed an unfortunate exit in the semis.

Gilas then swept the group stage only to absorb an 88-73 loss to Samoa, which eventually ruled Division B to advance to Division A with a 79-76 win against Syria in the finals.

This time, the wards of coach Pat Aquino loom as the favorites anew and they are out to live up to the expectations after scoring a massive winning margin of 69.6 points in the group stage.

Gilas ran roughshod on Hong Kong, 79-40, Maldives, 144-22, and host Jordan, 106-58.

Malaysia, for its part, had a 2-1 record in Group B behind unbeaten Iran. The Malaysians lost to the Iranians, 80-74, before beating Guam, 66-53, and Singapore, 72-51.

The other semis pairing features Iran and Hong Kong, which finished second to Gilas in Group A with a 2-1 slate.