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Three games into its return to the Southeast Asian Games, Indonesia’s women’s basketball team has shown it can compete with the best sides in the region.

Its next challenge is to show it can beat those teams.

Facing a bigger, more experienced Malaysia squad, Indonesia gave as good as it got for almost three quarters before fading down the stretch in a 70-48 defeat. The loss knocked the host nation out of medal contention.

“Malaysia played an intelligent game,” Indonesia coach Bill McCammon said. “They saw how the 2-3 zone hurt us when we played Japan.”

Indonesia needed a win to have a chance of playing for the silver medal in the round-robin tournament. It wraps up its competition today with a 3 p.m. game against the Philippines at Kelapa Gading Sports Mall in North Jakarta.

Malaysia focused on packing the lane with bodies on defense, taking away the dribble drive and forcing Indonesia to make perimeter shots. Its strategy largely paid off as the host made just four of its 23 3-point attempts.

What hurt Indonesia more, though, was foul trouble. Wulan Ayu Ningrum, its offensive catalyst and most experienced player, picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. Gabriel Sophia, one of the team’s few players able to match Malaysia’s posts for size, had three fouls before the first quarter was done.

Those fouls caught up with Indonesia in the third quarter. Wulan picked up her fourth foul with two minutes left, and she and Jacklien Ibo left the floor with Malaysia leading 40-39.

The visitors took full advantage, quickly inflating their lead to double digits and finishing the game on a 30-9 run.

“Indonesia relies a lot on its experienced players,” Malaysia coach Tan See Wah said. “When they went out, we were able to take advantage.”

Wulan led Indonesia (0-3) with 12 points while Jacklien had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Pang Hui Pin finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five steals to lead Malaysia, which outrebounded its opponent 49-33.

“We’re a young team, and we’ve shown we can play with these teams,” McCammon said. “But you have to make shots in basketball and you have to make free throws to win games.”

In the early women’s game, Thailand assured itself of the gold medal with a 75-73 overtime defeat of the Philippines. It will finish atop the round-robin even if it loses its final game today against Burma.

On the men’s side, as anticipated, the Philippines advanced to the gold-medal game with a 103-74 rout of Malaysia.