Gilas Pilipinas Women’s Naomi Panganiban against Lebanon in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup. Photo from FIBA Basketball.MANILA — The Gilas Pilipinas women’s basketball team has finally secured its breakthrough victory in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.
Despite losing steam from their hot start, the Nationals managed to post their first win after they escaped Lebanon, 73-70, during their Wednesday afternoon faceoff at the Shenzhen Sports Center in China.
This victory not only allowed Gilas to remain in Division A when they host the continental meet in 2027 but it also resulted in the Patrick Aquino-coached team securing its spot in the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Naomi Panganiban was the Philippines’ hero, scoring a team-high 15 points — two of which came in crunch time — with four rebounds and three assists, Jack Animam provided power anew with a 14-point, 16-rebound outing on top of five assists and three steals, while equally impressive were Sumayah Sugapong, Vanessa de Jesus, and Kacey Dela Rosa who had 14, 13, and 10, respectively.
As Gilas led by a solitary point, 71-70, with only 8.3 left in the game, Panganiban completed a perfect trip at the foul line to push their cushion to three, 73-70.
This gave Lebanon a clean opportunity to send the game to overtime, but the Philippines’ defense forced their counterparts to not even get an attempt from beyond the arc, eventually giving Gilas its first win in the Asia Cup.
Earlier, trailing 55-57 to start the last period, Gilas went on to score six straight points for a 61-57 lead all thanks to De Jesus, Sugapong, and Dela Rosa who each made deuces in a span of over three minutes.
The Philippines maintained their distance until the final minute of the game as they led 71-69, but Jillian Archer brought Lebanon to within one following her split from the foul line at the 35-second mark.
Unfortunately for Lebanon, this proved to be costly for them as the Philippines eventually escaped with the victory all thanks to Panganiban’s composure at the stripe.
Gilas only has a win in three games as they previously fell to Australia and Japan, but it spared them from needing to enter the relegation game as they will instead advance into the playoffs and face Group A’s No. 2-ranked team.
On the other hand, Lebanon, which was paced by Archer’s 23 markers and 10 boards, will face Group A’s last-placed team in the relegation match.