KUALA LUMPUR - Perlas Pilipinas cruised in its debut on Sunday night in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, downing Singapore, 88-54, at the MABA Stadium.
The Philippine women's team closed the second quarter with a big scoring run while giving up just nine points over the same stretch to take a 39-25 halftime lead, kicking off the rout.
Afril Bernardino led the charge of the Philippines with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks for Perlas, which also got 13 points from Janine Pontejos and 10 from Camille Sambile.
Perlas joined early winners Indonesia and host Malaysia after Day One of women's basketball. Indonesia thumped Myanmar, 94-49, while Malaysia beat Vietnam, 88-54.
Perlas takes on Indonesia in a battle of unbeatean teams on Monday with Gilas taking an early respite.
The scores:
Philippines (88) - Bernardino 16, Pontejos 13, Sambile 10, Lim 9, Resultay 8, Cabinbin 7, Tongco 6, Almazan 6, Dy 5, Castro 4, Animam 4, Abaca 0.
Singapore (54) - Poon 10, Chu Jia Jia 9, Lim Zhi Yan 9, Tan En Min 8, Yoshida 7, Loiter 4, Koh 3, Ang Siew Ting 2, Tang 2, See Kai Ting 0, Lim Rui Jia 0.
Quarters: 23-16, 39-25, 64-36, 88-54.
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