The Maldives U16 Girls Basketball Team, who started with a record-breaking win over Bangladesh, faced a reality-check tonight after falling to Sri Lanka 71-45 in the FIBA Asia Cup – SABA Qualifiers.

Despite starting strong – and inspired by the momentum of their historic 100+ point debut – the Maldivian girls struggled to maintain consistency across all four quarters.

Quarter Breakdown:

Q1: Sri Lanka 15-13 Maldives
Q2: Sri Lanka 15-3 Maldives
Q3: Sri Lanka 20-18 Maldives
Q4: Sri Lanka 21-11 Maldives

Sri Lanka’s Binuthi Jayasinghe (24 pts) and Taharah Arzoon (23 pts) dominated the game. Maldives’ top performer was Mariyam Malak, who scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, followed by Kalsam Kyna (12 pts) and Sarah Zaasha (9 pts).

The defeat narrows Maldives’ path to the final: they must now beat India tomorrow evening at 17:30 to keep qualification hopes alive.

In the boys’ competition, Maldives suffered elimination after back-to-back defeats, including tonight’s 116-28 loss to India. They wrap up their campaign against Bangladesh tomorrow at 20:00.

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