GILAS Pilipinas Women suffered their first loss in the 19th Asian Games, falling to powerhouse Japan, 59-96, in its final group-stage game at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium on Sunday.
Japan jumped the gun early with a 35-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 39 points on the way to the wire-to-wire win that completed a 3-0 sweep of their Group B assignments
The Gilas Women's 2-1 (win-loss) card was enough to book its place in the quarterfinals.
Aika Hirashita led all scorers with 26 markers to go with four rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Saki Hayashi chipped in 17 points as well.
Meanwhile, only Janine Pontejos breached double-digit scoring for Gilas with 13 points.
The Philippine cagebelles await their opponent in the next round with the other group stage games still ongoing as of press time.
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