Gilas Women push forward

Gilas Pilipinas Women will be taking home a lot of valuable lessons despite losing all three games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda.

Head coach Pat Aquino told DAILY TRIBUNE that getting to face the best teams in the world pumped up the girls while also showing everybody the Filipino brand of basketball.

The Philippines finished the tournament at the bottom of Group C with a 0-3 win-loss record behind Senegal (3-0), Hungary (2-1), and Brazil (1-2).

“You’re not just competing in your region or in your continent, but you’re playing around the world already in different kinds of continents, which have different ways they play basketball,” Aquino said.

“I think we have shown also how we play, a Filipino way of playing basketball through them. That’s what’s beautiful about it.”

“By the sounds or by the comments of the press and people around FIBA, they’re saying that they were impressed and they were really cheering for us on how we play our hearts out every game and not giving up, even with the disadvantage of playing with bigger opponents.”

The Philippines almost won its first game of the tournament against the Brazilians after a close 74-77 affair last Monday.

But after that, Gilas Women got smoked in the next two games after a 97-60 loss against the Hungarians on Tuesday and a 87-62 defeat at the hands of the Senegalese last Thursday.

Leading the way for Gilas Women was star center Jack Animam, who averaged 13.0 points, and 9.3 rebounds in three games while Naomi Panganiban just behind with 12.0 points and 3.0 rebounds.

Veteran guard Afril Bernardino averaged 10.0 points and grabbed 7.3 rebounds during the tournament.

Aquino said he and the squad will continue to improve for the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Shenzhen, China 13 to 20 July and the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand from 9 to 20 December.

The top six teams in the Asia Cup will get a spot for the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament, which begins in March 2026.