Gilas belles suffer crucial defeat

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas women absorbed a major blow to its three-peat bid after folding to the beefed-up Indonesia, 89-68, in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games women’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Morodok Techo Stadium Elephant Hall 2 in Phnom Penh.

The reigning champions conceded a 17-2 Indonesian rally to start the third quarter and never recovered from there en route to their first but biggest loss in the biennial campaign so far.

Gilas dropped to 2-1 as Indonesia climbed to 4-0, for an inside track to the gold medal after settling for silver in last year’s edition in Vietnam.

Janine Pontejos and Chack Cabinbin were the only bright spots for the Filipinas, firing 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Gilas dominated Indonesia, 93-77, last year in Hanoi but found its counterpart a difficult puzzle to solve this time with Kimberley Pierre Louis and Yuni Anggraeni standing in the way.