BENGALURU (India) - Cathay Life finished strongly to avert disaster and beat the debuting Akari, 85-75, to barge into the FIBA WBL Asia 2026 win column at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Wednesday.
The Tigers squandered a 20-point lead and even trailed by as many as 4 during the fourth, but still showed much better poise in the endgame toward bouncing back after losing to Sichuan Yuanda Meile yesterday.
Liu Hui-Ju gave themselves the lead for good with a tough layup off the glass, before Hsu Yu-Lien knocked down a jumper from the baseline to give themselves the 78-75 advantage with 2:01 remaining in the game.
Then came the bruising Penina Davidson, taking over to spearhead the closeout by scoring and assisting in her team's last 7 points, as the WSBL champions put together an 11-0 attack for a solid windup.
Cathay Life improved to 1-1 following the win and would need the Pandas to take care of business against the Sparks tomorrow, Thursday, October 22, to formalize their entry to the knockout Semi-Finals.
"We are very happy to win again," expressed head coach Cheng Hui-Yun, pleased with the way her squad responded after absorbing a 92-70 defeat to the inaugural league champions some 24 hours ago.
Davidson finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists in a showing highlighted by the dagger triple she buried for the 81-75 lead with 1:29 left to play that took the spark off their foes from the Philippines.
Chu Chu came through with 14 points alongside 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Liu supplied 13 points, while Hsu made 12. Hsiao Yu-Wen tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds, with Shelby Cheslek adding 7 and 10.
"I thought today we just responded pretty well after a pitiful loss yesterday. That wasn't nice," said Davidson, who also shot an efficient 10-of-15 from the field and finished with an efficiency of 29 to lead all players.
Saicha Grant-Allen had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Akari in the fightback that fell just short, as her brief absence after hurting her right leg at the 4:53-mark of the fourth proved costly for her team.
They did manage to take the 75-74 lead behind Stefanie Berberabe with 2:51 to go, but it proved to be their final stand as the Tigers took it from there, foiling the Sparks' bid of upsetting a WBL Asia pioneer.
Bre'Amber Scott made 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Kent Pastrana had 13 points, while Berberabe chipped in 11 for the WMPBL titlists, who even enjoyed a 66-62 lead early in the fourth but couldn't hold on to it.
"We were still in the ball game, but unfortunately, Saicha got hurt. And it's like we just got blown out after that," lamented Akari head coach Derrick Pumaren. "But I'm really proud of the way we came back."
FIBA