The Philiippines caught fire from beyond the arc to secure its breakthrough win, as the world No. 30 beat 22nd-ranked Senegal, 79-75, in its final game of the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Thursday in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Gilas unloaded 12 triples to close out their campaign on a winning note, with Kacey Dela Rosa, Sophia Dignadice and Vanessa De Jesus scoring 16 points apiece. De Jesus also had a game-high eight assists and four rebounds.
It was coach BT Toews’ first victory since taking over the program last May.
“This is the first game in the tournament that our three-point shooting was pretty deadly,” the Canadian mentor said.
The Philippines opened its bid with a narrow 58-61 to host Mexico and absorbed a sound 38-85 defeat to world No. 7 Canada on Thursday.
“What a difference the day makes. Senegal is definitely not Canada but their ranking is better than ours. I said yesterday when we were talking about being completely dominated in every category. Despite that, I still thought that our defense is getting better. I thought it showed that today, big time,” Toews said.
Jack Danielle Animam contributed 14 points, three rebounds and two steals, while Jhaz Joson added nine points and matched Dignadice’s four assists for Gilas.
“Even both of our bigs (Dela Rosa and Animam) had foul trouble, we played really small ball. We were able to keep Senegal’s paint area field goal percentage very very low. And you know if you have that kinda defense and you had a good day shooting, then it can be tough no matter who are you playing. Today there was really balanced scoring,” Toews said.
The Canadians defeated the Mexicans, 70-64, to become the Group B winners via a three-game sweep.
All is not lost for the Philippines, as it can still progress to the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments via the Asia Cup which the country is hosting next year in Cebu City. The top four teams in the Asia Cup will make it to the Olympic qualifiers.
