AMMAN (Jordan) - Samoa are crowned winners of the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship 2022 Division B while the Philippines secure third place in the final day of the competition.

Syria had previously beaten Samoa in the Group Phase in their very first games, but this turned out to be a much tighter contest to decide the winner of the Division B. In the end, it was Samoa who emerged victorious this time around, 79-76.

Team leader Azaleeah Oloapu continued to step up to the challenge until the very end and was the player that scored the go-ahead layup for Samoa to reclaim the lead for good. Oloapu had yet another big game of 20 points and 19 rebounds, in line with her performance through the competition.

Kira-May Filemu was also as productive as she had been throughout the tournament, filling up the box score with 23 points, 17 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks in this final game. Filemu also knocked down a clutch shot in the waning seconds to give Samoa a big enough lead to keep ahead of the determined Syria squad.

Syria had actually clawed their way back from an early 15-point deficit to lead throughout most of the fourth quarter for over 7 minutes, but could not hang on until the final buzzer.

The top performer for Syria in this game was Julie Khreim who had her best game yet of the competition. The power forward had 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in the valiant effort.

Earlier in the day, the Philippines secured the third-place spot in the Final Standings of Division B with a 90-68 win over Lebanon.

The Philippines left no room for doubt in this game and broke away in the second half, cruising to a win. They rebounded to have the hot hand, shooting 45.8 percent from the three-point line in this game on 11 made three-pointers.

Two 20-point scorers led the way for the Philippines in Gabriella Ramos and Kristan Yumul. Ramos added 5 rebounds, while Yumul contributed to the win with 6 assists.

For Lebanon, Angeline Maria Bado led the team in scoring with 19 points while shooting 9-10 from the free throw line.

FIBA