Gilas Women head coach Patrick Aquino is looking forward to a vibrant, more exciting program following the appointment of Erika Dy as executive director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Aquino, who led the national women's team to greater heights, formally welcomes the appointment of Dy, saying that she can definitely help them boost the federation's women's cage program.

A former head coach of the Ateneo de Manila University women's basketball team, the 41-year-old Dy was tapped to run the day-to-day operations of the SBP.

The Daily Tribune broke the news of her appointment last month, which was only formalized by SBP president Al Panlilio on Monday after Dy signed the contract.

"There are a lot of plans in store for women's basketball, which we believe are very exciting," Aquino said.

"We're working closely with ED Erika Dy on our program, so that it will be aligned with how she envisions women's basketball in the Philippines."

Although our cagebelles fell short on winning its third straight gold medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, they were able to make some strides in the international arena.

They, in fact, made the country proud when they posted their best ever finish in the FIBA Asia Cup at sixth place, just a few months after securing the silver medal in the SEA Games in Phnom Penh.

With that, the Filipinas also improved their FIBA world ranking to 37th place.

Even the under-16 women's squad also improved by leaps and bounds as it won the championship of the Division B of the FIBA Asia Cup Under-16 tournament to pave the way for its promotion to Division A.

The Philippine Basketball Association is also taking notice on the improvement of women's basketball in the country and mulls plans of including it in its program.