Gilas Pilipinas Women may have been beaten by 76 points but their collective morale remains high in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup over the weekend at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen, China.
Gilas coach Patrick Aquino said their 39-115 setback to mighty Australians is part of the growing pains they have to endure due to the lack of experience and maturity of the new members of the team.
Nobody in the current Gilas roster is past 28 years old with Khate Castillo being the oldest. Even the 6-foot-5 Jack Animam is just 26 years old despite being a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and campaigner in various club leagues around the world.
Meanwhile, Naomi Panganiban, Kent Pastrana, Sumayah Sugapong, Yvette Marie Villanueva, Quinn Kacey Dela Rosa and Cielo Pagdulagan, are all making their Asia Cup debut for the Filipinas.
“We’re still in a transition. We are inserting new kids into our program. Our youngsters played well, but have a lot more to learn,” said Aquino, who is missing the services of veterans Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos, Andrea Tongco and Chack Cabinbin.
“They can learn from what they experienced today and then getting more experiences can make our team better in the future.”
Despite their lack of experience, Panganiban said they are determined to make the most of their Gilas stint as they go up against bigger and more experienced players.
“We are a young group and still learning, but it’s good to know we have each other’s back,” Panganiban said.
“We’re gonna be playing a lot of really good girls, but I have a lot of confidence in our group. We’re pretty young, but we all want to be here and play hard with a lot of passion.”