Apia (Samoa) - Host Samoa defeated Tahiti, 84-70, to advance to the Semi-Finals round of the 2019 Pacific Games Women's Basketball event.

Malama Leaupepe once again paced the home team after flirting with a triple-double of 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in just 25 minutes of play.

Sommer Motufoua and Cherish Manumaluega also chipped in 12 and 11 markers, respectively for the Samoans who have arranged a Final Four duel against the 2015 Pacific Games Silver Medalist and still unbeaten American Samoa.

Banking on a frenetic home crowd, Samoa raced to 44-31 halftime lead and never looked back as it even stretched the gap to as many as 20 points en route to the big win.

Alizee LeFranc had her 19-point,15-rebound double-double outing wasted in the loss of Tahiti which failed to mirror its bronze medal finish in the 2015 Pacific Games.

Meanwhile, Guam escaped past the Cook Islands, 67-66, to book the final ticket to the Semi-Final spot of the 2019 Pacific Games.

With the game hanging in the balance in the last two minutes, 61-all, Guam went on a killer 5-0 spurt capped by a Brianna Benito jumper to create a huge 66-61 separation, only 58 seconds to go.

Guam seemed to be on poise to prevail in the tightly-contested match highlighted by 17 lead changes with that telling five-point upper hand.

But the Cook Islands did not just go down without a fight, unleashing a quick 5-1 retaliation after an Adoniah Lewis crucial basket.

The Cook Islands still had one last chance to steal the game from Guam following two missed free throws of Jocelyn Padilla but it failed to grab the defensive glass as Guam went on to cap off an epic escape act.

Guam thus booked a ticket to the semis of this prestigious quadrennial basketball showpiece, setting up a gigantic duel against reigning champion Fiji.

Destiny Casto did the heavy lifting for Guam anew with 22 points, 12 rebounds and six steals while Joylyn Pangilinan and Maria Mesa Nauls with 16 and 11 markers, respectively.

Benito also chipped in nine markers including the crucial basket in the last minute.

On the other hand, Aijah Pepe tallied 30 points in an unfortunate losing cause for the Cook Islands which slid down to the 5th-6th classification phase against Tahiti.

In the classification phase, after being blanked in the group stage, Papua New Guinea finally scored its first win against winless New Caledonia, 60-45, to salvage the seventh spot.

Bett Angola hauled down 11 points and 22 rebounds to lead the way for PNG which had a better outing in the 2015 Pacific Games with a fourth-place finish.

New Caledonia, meanwhile, settled for eighth place despite the 11 and 10 markers of Eval Tartas and Diana Moutry, respectively.

FIBA