Gilas Pilipinas Girls carved out a historic win over South Korea in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup, thanks to a clutch score by birthday girl Tiffany Reyes.
There’s few better ways to celebrate one’s birthday than with your teammates after a rousing victory.
That’s exactly what Tiffany Reyes did as she nailed the game-winner in Gilas Pilipinas’ pulsating 77-75 win over South Korea in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
After Makena Ramos handed off the ball to her on top of the key, Reyes took two dribbles to the right, shot faked Seun Lim, then calmly swished the mid-range jumper for the Gilas Girls’ first win in the tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It was the first victory for the Gilas Girls in Division A after back-to-back losses to Australia (42-123) and Chinese Taipei (74-48) in Group A.
Reyes, now 15 years old, finished with 16 points, three rebounds, a steal, and two blocks for the Gilas, which will also advance to the qualification to the quarterfinals against the no. 2 team in Group B.
The match is set on Friday, Sept. 26.
Ella Smith led all Filipina scorers with 21 points with seven rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block.
Ruiza Olmos had 12 points, seven rebounds, and a steal, while Zaira Vinluan and Ramos combined for 13 points for the Filipina dribblers, who actually led 69-60 early in the fourth period.
But Korea didn’t budge, gradually erasing the deficit and even leading 75-74 on Seun Lim’s jumper with 15 seconds remaining.
Olmos tied things up with a split from the free throw line, before Reyes whipped up her magic for the win.
Lim fired 31 points but they weren’t enough to give the Koreans a victory in group play after three games.
She also had eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, and two blocks.
Damhee Kim backstopped her with 26 points and 12 rebounds as the Koreans play in the classification for the seventh to eighth place.
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Like most sportswriters, Jan Ballesteros once dreamed of becoming a professional hooper. But he learned the hard way that it’s not for everyone.
He continues to be involved in the sport he loves, but this time as a member of the PBA Press Corps. Aside from primarily covering the PBA, he is also assigned to cover Gilas Pilipinas.