Slow-starting PHL cagebelles rout Indonesia to clinch finals seat

The Philippines started out slow but made the necessary adjustments to cruise to an 82-46 rout of Indonesia and formally clinch a finals seat in the 7th SEABA Women Championship on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. RP team coach Haydee Ong opted to give her reserves some playing time, thus allowing the Indonesians to take a 13-9 lead on a jumper by Yulinda Wati midway in the opening period. But the visiting squad’s jubilation was short-lived as Aurora Adriano fired four points in a closing 8-0 spurt as the hosts ended the first quarter with 17-13 lead. They never looked back. Diana Jose, Angeli Gloriani, Chovi Borja and Merenciana Arayi alternated in lighting up the scoreboard as the locals slowly pulled away. Jose had 15 points while Borja added 14 markers. Adriano, Gloriani and Arayi finished with 11, 11, and 10 points each. The Philippines posted a 53-27 edge in rebounds with Fatima Tolentino grabbing 14. They also had 17 steals, thanks to their full-court trapping defense that also resulted in 22 turnovers by Indonesia "I decided to give our starters a rest for this game and expose other players for them to gain the needed confidence heading into our big game with Thailand," said Ong, who steered the Nationals to their third straight win. The hosts close out their elimination round campaign against defending champion Thailand, which also remains undefeated in three games after an 83-47 demolition of Singapore in the other match. The RP-Thailand elimination round game will be played on Thursday at 4 p.m. Both teams will again meet on Friday for the title match. "This match will be like a chess game were we will try to test them (Thailand), and whatever we will learn from this game, we’ll try to make the needed adjustment for the big game on Friday," said Ong. "We have to double our effort defensively because the Thais are a complete team. I know both teams will not be showing up their A-game, but whatever we will learn will be put to good use for the finals." – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV