Gilas women ready for Jones Cup wars

Gilas Pilipinas Women will use its stint in the 44th William Jones Cup in Taiwan to gauge where its level of play is at ahead of the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup.

Building up their chemistry and improving their skills are the main goals of the Filipinas when they march into action in the tournament slated from 1 to 6 July.

Assistant coach Julie Amos told DAILY TRIBUNE that the Taiwan stop will allow them to see the areas that the team would need to address going to the FIBA Asia Cup.

“The Jones Cup will be first, then, a few days later, will be the FIBA Asia. So, at least we’ll have time to adjust for our needs for FIBA Asia,” Amos said.

“So, that will be a good preparation for the team. We’ll enhance more as we build up as a unit.”

The FIBA Asia Women’s Cup will run from 13 to 20 July in Shenzhen, China.

The Philippines, led by veterans Jack Animam and Afril Bernardino, is in for a tough grind in the group stages.

Gilas Women drew Japan, Australia, and Lebanon in a ‘group of death’ in Group B.

Group A is composed of defending champion China, New Zealand, South Korea and Indonesia.

The top team in the pool will earn an outright semifinal seat while the second and third squads per group will clash in the playoff stage for a spot in the next round.

Amos said they will also be looking to tap into their youth program to reinforce their squad.

“The good thing about that is that we have players from the youth program. So, they’ll be the next generation to mix up with our senior players here in Manila,” Amos said.