The 43rd William Jones Cup served as an eye-opener for Gilas Pilipinas Women squad as it prepares for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Rwanda from 19 to 25 August.

Gilas coach Pat Aquino told DAILY TRIBUNE that while his wards didn’t land a medal, their exposure in the Jones Cup helped him and the coaching staff in assessing what they lack and what needs to be done as they shoot for a spot in the FIBA Women’s World Cup.

Gilas Women finished the tournament in fourth place with a 2-3 win-loss record.

“We saw what we needed to do and we saw the people that we want to bring to Rwanda. So this tournament was really a great help for us to analyze, and maybe guide us, on what things that we should do in our preparation,” Aquino said in a phone conversation.

“There’s like half of them are new, half of them are coming from the youth program. The experience was not yet there but definitely, we saw some prospect that they can be of great help in the future.”

Aside from veteran Jack Animam, who was named as part of the tournament’s Mythical Team, one of the biggest revelations for Gilas Women was Naomi Panganiban.

The Filipino-American guard, who saw action for the U18 squad, even scored as many as 19 points despite losing to Chinese Taipei-A, 66-82, last Wednesday at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei.

“We’re proud that Naomi was able to adjust right away. We got a lot of praise from other teams, especially Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and Thailand,” Aquino said.

“They appreciate us for having our youth program go up to the senior squad and transitioning well.”

Aquino said the squad will remain in Manila for the remainder of the month while training with high school teams and touring the country for competitions.

“So, we’ll be preparing for the pre-qualifying tournament the whole duration until we leave in August,” Aquino said.

“I think we have some programs coming up like touring the province. We’ll be going to provinces and having to play games against tougher teams.”