October 26, 2010
By Kristel Satumbaga
A flurry of three-point shots in the final quarter gave the Philippine women\'s basketball team a
59-39 win over five-time champion Malaysia yesterday to assure one of the top two seats in the SEABA
Women\'s Championships at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Missing triples after triples in the first three periods, the RP dribblers rained treys like free
throws early in the fourth to post their second victory in the single round robin tournament.
Melissa Jacob starred in RP\'s late breakaway as she drained three straight triples to pad the lead
to 49-32 in the first two minutes of the final period.
\"Yung mga tres ni Melissa, yun ang pumatay sa kanila. Dun na sila na-demoralize,\" said
RP coach
Haydee Ong, who was seen swapping high fives with her players on the bench during a dead ball
situation in the final minute.
Merenciana Arayi followed up with her own three-pointer and answered back Kew Suik May\'s jumper to
post the biggest lead at 54-34, 5:54 left.
Earlier, defending champion Thailand
exposed Indonesia\'s lethargic plays, 118-50, to nail the other top seat with a clean 2-0 mark.
The highest scoring ball game so far in the tournament lopsidedly favored the Thais, who started
their onslaught with a 39-9 first-quarter explosion to extend their supremacy after a 78-64 win over
the Malaysians on Monday.
Charothai Suksomwong and Juthamas Jantakan sparked the team\'s juggernaut and combined for 51
points only one marker more than the Indonesians\' overall input as the Thais dominated almost all
fields.
The RP cagebelles kept in control of the game as Cassie Tioseco and Bernadette Mercado presided
over early in the second frame for a 32-24 edge, but the resurgent Malaysians rallied back to 32-30,
three minutes before halftime.
Tioseco and Arayi imposed their might before Jacob and Arayi took over.
Jacob paced RP with 15 points, even as Tioseco also fired 15 markers and nine boards as the lady
dribblers hope to bring their momentum in today\'s game against Indonesia and tomorrow\'s
hostilities against Thailand.
Defeats on both teams still assure RP of a championship duel with Thailand due to the winner
over-the-other format.
