After succumbing to bigger, more experienced players in their opening game of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, the Gilas Pilipinas Women are heading towards the next days with lessons learned.
The Gilas Pilipinas Women are hoping to lay out all the lessons from their 115-66 loss to hosts France, as the Filipinas continue in the FIBA Women's World Cup 2026 qualifiers in Villeurbanne on Wednesday (early Thursday morning, Manila time).
Competing at that level for the first time in program history, the Philippines understadably looked a step slow from the get-go. After the first 10 minutes of play, France had run away with the game, 24-9.
But as each quarter passed, the Gilas Women were able to recover more and more and culminated in a fourth quarter where they played toe-to-toe with France—losing only in quarter scoring by one point, 28-29.
The 115-66 domination by France is the all-time points record for a single game by any team in competition history.
Ironically, the last record in the Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament was held by China, scoring 103 points against France in 2022.
The French team also smashed the records for field goals made (45), field goals from 2-point range (35), as well as assists (37).
With games still ahead of them, and a possible trip to the World Cup on the line, Gilas youngster Sumayah Sugapong said they're eager to learn from the whole experience and build on the future, and hopefully clinch a trip to Germany in the meantime.
"Yeah, I mean, that was a really good team we just played. You know, I watch a lot of those girls on TV, you know, in the WNBA team. So I'm just grateful to have the opportunity to be here playing against that type of competition," said Sugapong after the match.
"I think we learned a lot from this game that we could take moving forward.Yeah, it's a good experience." she added.
Sugapong finished with a team-high 13 points, albeit on a less-than-efficient shooting clip. But going up against bigger and better defenders, it was a feat to be proud of, with the rest of the Gilas Women also showing out their best efforts.
While it didn't end up in their favor, Sugapong is approaching the rest of the tournament with an upbeat mindset.
With the bigger picture of developing Philippine women's basketball on the world stage, Sugapong is hoping to keep on learning from each and every outing -- and just might tack on some wins as well.
"I mean, we're a really young team all around. So, I mean, that's a lot of our first times playing a team of that caliber, like, you know, ranked in the world like that," Sugapong admitted.
"So I think just learning from all the mistakes we made today and carrying that into our game against Germany tomorrow and into the rest of the week, I think there's definitely a lot of learning points we could build off of."
Gilas plays Germany after a quick turnaround in the second match of their World Cup qualifiers on Friday midnight, Manila time.
They then face Nigeria on Saturday, March 14, before South Korea on Sunday, March 15.
Colombia will be their final test on Tuesday, March 17.
Of note, Germany and Nigeria are already qualified to the World Cup owing to hosting and being continental champions, respectively.
The games are aired on One Sports+ and the Pilipinas Live app.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.