The Gilas Pilipinas Women's Under-16 team cruised to a 79-40 demolition of Hong Kong for a strong start to their campaign in Division B of the 2023 FIBA Under-16 Women's Asian Championship.

The Gilas U-16 led wire-to-wire, scoring the game's first ten points then rebuffing a quick rally by Hong Kong before establishing control once again.

The comfortable win on Tuesday at the Prince Hamzah Stadium in Amman, Jordan put the young Filipinas on top of Group A. They will still play Jordan and Maldives, with the winner of the group advancing straight to the semifinals.

Only the overall champion of Division B will earn promotion to Division A of FIBA Asia.

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The Philippines built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter before Hong Kong got as close as one point, 12-11, with two minutes to play as the Gilas U-16 committed costly turnovers. But a three-pointer by Ava Fajardo with under 30 seconds to go restored order, and Ryan Kelly Nair's layup gave the Philippines a 17-11 lead at the end of the period.

It was all Gilas from there, with their full court press forcing Hong Kong into turnovers that they translated into quick points.

Their lead reached 41 points with 67 seconds to go when Scarlett Mercado's jumper made it 79-38.

Fajardo, the younger sister of Gilas Women's star Ella, had 17 points, while Nair finished with 12 markers and Alyssia Palma added 10 points. Ariel Star De La O put up seven points and 12 boards.

The Gilas U-16 forced Hong Kong into 34 turnovers that they translated to 26 points, while also limiting their opponents to just 26.09% shooting from the field.

The Philippines will play Maldives tomorrow in the same venue.

The Philippines ended their campaign in last year's edition with a third-place finish after a loss in the semifinals against Samoa. They swept the group phase after beating Indonesia, Syria, and Samoa, and defeated Lebanon, 90-68, in the battle for third.