Gilas Pilipinas women‘s U18. Photo from FIBA. 

MANILA — The Gilas Pilipinas girls under-18 team is a win away from moving up to the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup Division A.

The young Filipina hoopers did so after dominating Samoa in the Division B semifinals, 71-47, earlier on Saturday at the Futian Sports Park in Shenzhen, China.

Leading them in their win that clinched them a Finals spot was team captain Ava Fajardo.

Gilas Pilipinas women’s star and team captain Ava Fajardo against Samoa in the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup. Photo from FIBA. 

The 5-foot-4 guard paced the squad with 19 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals, Naomi Panginiban followed her with 12 markers, five boards, four steals, and two dimes, while Alicia Villanueva and Sophia Canindo each tallied 11 for Gilas who has now posted its third win in as many games.

They will return to action tomorrow to face the victor of the semis clash between Iran and Lebanon.

After ending the first with a 12-point lead, 17-5, Samoa put up a better showing in the second all thanks to Mylaani Sione's showing that allowed them to outscore the Nationals in that quarter, 18-14.

The Samoans were able to stay close until the end of the third period and were only down by three possessions, 49-39, but this was when the Filipinas regained their footing and started to regain their form.

A Fajardo basket capped off a seven-to-nothing run in the fourth canto's first two minutes to create a 56-39 lead, and while Sione stopped the bleeding again for Samoa, what followed was Gilas scoring nine unanswered points, and this allowed them to grow their lead to 24, 65-41, after a bucket from Canindo.

The Gilas girls' defense then went on to limit the Samoans to only two field goal conversions throughout the game, and this proved to be enough for the Philippines to finally relegate their opponents into the Battle for Third Place game. 

Also playing a factor in PH's win was their defense which got them 26 steals and forced Samoa to commit 31 turnovers. The Nationals converted these into 28 points from turnovers as well as 31 fastbreak points.

Meanwhile, Sione led her squad with an 18-point, eight-rebound game, and helping her was Kira-May Filemu who had 12.

They will be facing the loser of the Iran-Lebanon faceoff tomorrow.