World No. 1 China ends Gilas girls’ magic run in U18 World Cup

MANILA, Philippines – China did not care much about Gilas Youth’s Cinderella run, sending the young Filipinas packing with a 21-12 drubbing in the 2019 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup quarterfinals in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Friday, June 7. 

Angelica Surada led the Philippines’ last stand with 4 points while Ella Fajardo and Karl Ann Pingol added 3 markers apiece. Camille Clarin rounded out their balanced effort with 2 points.

Bei Liu buried an open long two at the 8:35 mark of the contest, highlighting a quick 5-0 Chinese blitz. Clarin then ended the bleeding with a layup shortly after. 

Although Surada capped off a 3-0 run for the Philippines to inch within 3, 6-9, the Gilas girls simply did not have enough firepower to match the world’s best U18 women’s team. Zhouze He let Gilas remember that fact after nailing a long bomb at the three-minute mark to give China a comfortable 14-8 advantage. 

Still, Surada did not throw in the towel and buried a long two of her own with 67 ticks left to again get Gilas within 3, 12-15. 

However, that would turn out to be their last bucket as China carpet-bombed the Philippines with 3 straight long twos to end the contest, 21-12. 

He equaled the Philippines’ scoring output with 12 points boosted by 4 long twos. Liu chipped in 6 markers while Xianglin Wu added 3. 

The Scores: 

China 21 – He 12, Liu 6, Wu 3, Gao 0.

Philippines 12 – Surada 4, Fajardo 3, Pingol 3, Clarin 2.

– Rappler.com