I’m just so happy for what they did and I hope this time you will notice what we can do.

After several years of frustrations, Gilas Pilipinas finally clinched the gold medal following a 91-71 win over Thailand in the women’s basketball competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Jack Animam put up a massive performance while Janine Pontejos, Kelly Hayes and Ana Castillo provided significant numbers for the Nationals, who gave their coach Patrick Aquino his first SEA Games crown after falling short in the Singapore and Kuala Lumpur editions of the prestigious biennial meet.

Animam registered 21 points, five rebounds and two blocks while Pontejos finished with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals and Hayes and Castillo contributed 11 points apiece.

“Incredible game, they never stopped. I was telling them to just keep on fighting and that’s what we did in the third quarter. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been doing this since 2015 and now we finally got the gold,” Gilas Pilipinas head coach Pat Aquino said.

“I’m just so happy for what they did and I hope this time you will notice what we can do,” he added.

This is the sixth time that the Filipinas made it to the finals of the SEA Games since women’s basketball was included in the calendar in 1977.

The best achievement that had was just a silver medal, making this feat a breakthrough not only for the Aquino and his team, but also for the entire country.

Gilas dethroned Malaysia in their way to the title to book a sudden-death duel with the Thais.