PHNOM PENH—Tha national team lost to Indonesia, 68-89, on Friday at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2, dampening the country’s bid for a third straight women’s basketball gold medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.
The Gilas Pilipinas women had no answer to Indonesia’s attack in the third quarter where they trailed easily recovered from a 37-35 lead and wrest a 63-49 advantage at the end of period.
Indonesia improved to 4-0 won-lost and needs to only beat bottom teams Singapore and Cambodia to capture the gold medal.
The tournament has a round-robin format with the first placer winning the gold medal outright.
The Gilas women dropped to third place with a 2-1 record behind Malaysia (3-1) with three games remaining against Vietnam on Saturday, Thailand on Sunday, and Malaysia on Monday.
“It’s a hard loss,” Gilas women coach Pat Aquino said. “[Indonesia] is a tough team. They’ve been together for almost three years.”
“I told them [Gilas] to never give up. We still have three more games,” he said. “We’ll never know what will happen.”
Yuni Anggraeni had 24 points, while Kimberley Pierre Louis had 20 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks for Indonesia.
Janine Pontejos and Chack Cabinbin finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the defeat.