Gilas Pilipinas Women‘s Afril Bernardino in the 2026 FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament. FIBA Media. Gilas Pilipinas Women bowed out of contention in the 5-on-5 basketball tournament of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after falling to Chinese Taipei, 83-71, on Thursday at the Aichi International Arena in Japan.
Afril Bernardino fired 23 points, seven rebounds, and an assist as the Philippines played catch-up after a close first period, with Gilas trailing by as many as 14 points as the game progressed.
Janine Pontejos and Stef Berberabe each scored 12 points, Kent Pastrana followed with 11 markers, while naturalized player Elizabeth Means was limited to four points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field.
Gilas still managed to inch closer late in the third period, with a Bernardino basket at the 29.8-second mark cutting their deficit to five, 61-56.
However, Taipei zoomed to nine straight points to take a 70-56 lead after a Szu-Chin basket with 9:15 left in the fourth quarter, and that proved enough for the Taiwanese to advance to the semifinals.
Ya-En Han led Taipei with 14 points and 17 rebounds, while Ling-Chuan Huang followed with 13 points, four rebounds, and two assists.
The Scores:
Chinese Taipei 83 – Hsiao 14, Huang L.C. 13, Han 11, Lin Y.T. 10, Peng H.T. 9, Chen W.U. 7, Peng S.C. 6, Huang H.T. 5, Cheng 5, Lin W.Y. 3, Lin T. 0.
Gilas Pilipinas 71 – Bernardino 23, Berberabe 12, Pontejos 12, Pastrana 11, Means 4, Yam 4, Malagar 3, Pingol 2, Joson 2, Surada 0, Del Carmen 0, Clarin 0.
Quarterscores: 15-9, 42-34, 65-56, 83-71.