THE Philippine team claimed a second straight victory in the Fiba-Asia Championship For Women with a 62-55 victory over Uzbekistan on Monday in Bangkok.
Team captain Joan Grajales had 13 points for Perlas Pilipinas, who was coming off an 87-57 victory over Hong Kong in the opener last Sunday.
Ewon Arayi and Amby Almazan had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the PH women’s squad, which is seeking promotion to Level I for the 2015 edition of the tournament.
Melissa Jacob and Chovi Borja also hit timely three-pointers in a pivotal fourth-quarter run that put the Discovery-Philippine team ahead for good.
The Filipina cagers opened with a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, but their lead was trimmed to a point after a 17-6 Uzbek surge in the third.
Uzbekistan even led 51-50 midway through the fourth on two free throws by Natalya Koneva, but Jacob and Borja hit triples in an 11-0 run for a 61-51 edge.
The Philippines will face rival and host Thailand on Tuesday in a rematch of their gold medal game during the 2011 Southeast Asia Games in Indonesia.
The scores:
Philippines (62) – Grajales 13, Arayi 11, Almazan 10, Borja 9, Jacob 8, Tiu 4, Flormata 3, Mercado 2, Bernardo 2, Galicia 0, Resultay 0, Tioseco 0.
Uzbekistan (55) – Koneva 14, Kirienko 12, Mikulenko 8, Khusnitdinova 6, Sevastyanova 6, Komarova 6, Titova 3, Zakharova 0, Kashuba 0, Samatova 0.
Quarterscores; 23-12; 37-25; 43-42; 62-55.
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