Sophia Dignadice is embracing a bigger role as one of Gilas Pilipinas Women’s vital cogs despite being one of the youngest in the roster.

Head coach BT Toews lauded the Filipino-American guard for stepping up to the challenge and showing maturity beyond her age in the Philippines’ stint in the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-qualifying Tournament in Mexico.

Although the Filipinas had a group stage exit, Toews liked what he saw in the daughter of nine-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) champion Yves Dignadice during Gilas’ campaign.

The 18-year-old Dignadice played her best game of the tournament with 16 points on 7-of-12 field goal shooting and four assists in Gilas’ 79-75 win over Senegal on Friday that snapped a two-game slide.

“At her tender age of 18, she decided to step up in key moments of the game. Worked hard on defense, which I was taking a close look at, and helped us deliver the win,” the Canadian tactician said.

Dignadice averaged 8.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in Gilas Women’s first major tournament since Toews took over the reins.

Toews was also impressed with his court general’s leadership and command of the team in a high-stakes competition.

Dignadice, who was part of the team that won the 2025 Southeast Asian Games gold medal, admitted to pressure to be at her best considering she’s orchestrating plays alongside veteran and more experienced teammates.

“It feels great, but I think, you know, being the youngest, it does come with pressure. But I think pressure is a privilege,” she said.

“As coach BT and coach Bacon (Austria) mentioned it from Las Vegas, our training camps to even today, everyone on this team was handpicked and I think that’s something that you should like take and apply on the court,” she added.

“So really, it just feels amazing just being able to be the point guard and just command and like being able to control the team in a way.”

Dignadice and the rest of Gilas Women are bound for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games next.

Gilas Women are set to compete in the 20th Asiad from 17 to 26 September and are in Group B with the previous edition’s silver medalist Japan, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong.

The Philippines was eliminated by South Korea in the quarterfinal of the Hangzhou edition three years ago.