THE Philippines won’t be coming home without a victory from the 2021 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Women’s Cup despite an unsatisfactory overall campaign in Amman, Jordan.
The national team wound up seventh among eight nations after beating India, 74-70, in the classification phase on Friday morning.
Janine Pontejos and Khate Castillo carried the team’s final game at the Prince Hamza Hall.
“We never stopped competing and that’s good for this team even though we were badly beaten in previous games,” head coach Patrick Aquino told BusinessMirror on Friday. “We never gave up.”
“I just asked them to play together,” he said. “It happened so I am very proud of them.”
Pontejos scattered 22 points on 9-of-22 shooting and also had five rebounds, while Castillo shot 7-of-12 for 22 points to lead the Filipinos, who drew nine points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and four blocks from National University’s three-time UAAP MVP Afril Bernardino.
The Philippines was badly beaten by China (52-143), Australia (56-120) and Chinese-Taipei (52-93) in Group B earlier in the week week.
The Philippines, ranked 51st in the world among 124 countries, stayed in Division A while India fell to Division B for the 2023 edition.
The Filipina dribblers will fly home on Tuesday.