By the time this piece gets published, the Gilas Pilipinas Women team is already in Melbourne for a short training camp and a pair of tuneup games for the final stretch of its preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup starting 26 June at the Sydney Olympic Park.
On 20 June, the Filipinas will take on Keilor, a team from the Women’s National Basketball League South. Then, they will take on a more superior Casey Cavaliers on 22 June in the second friendly match that will give them more familiarity with the Aussie brand of basketball.
The Philippines will take on host Australia, which is ranked second in the tournament and third in the world, on opening day at 7:30 p.m. Manila time.
Then, Gilas will also face Japan and Chinese Taipei in the next two days, both at 1:30 p.m.
Gilas team manager Michael Lim said the team will have a courtesy call with the consul on 21 June.
While the Filipinas are excited to plunge back into the action a month after securing the silver medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, they are also set to welcome their latest addition in Vanessa de Jesus.
A product of Duke University, de Jesus has been on the radar of Gilas coach Patrick Aquino as early as three years ago. In fact, he included her in the under-18 squad just to secure her commitment to play for the national team.
The pandemic pushed back the event but Aquino continued to stay in touch with de Jesus and her family.
De Jesus will be the latest naturalized player to see action for Gilas Women since Kelly Hayes reinforced the squad in the 30th SEA Games in 2019.
Another naturalized player included in the pool was Mai-Loni Henson, a frontcourt player from University of Washington. She, however, was unable to see action in the last two editions of the SEA Games after suffering plantar fasciitis and calf injuries, forcing Aquino to explore his other options.
A lot is at stake in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup as the top four will get seats in the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament — the closest thing that the Philippines can go through the Paris Olympics.
No Philippine squad has ever made it to the Olympics since the 1972 Munich Games, but it has been creating milestones in women’s basketball since 2019.
Although they are the lowest-ranked squad in the the group, the national cagebelles were able to make a good run in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup and Aquino hopes that they will make the country proud.
While attention is being trained on the Gilas Pilipinas Men team that will be seeing action in the FIBA Basketball World Cup less than three months from now, the Gilas girls also need our support as they will compete in a very crucial tournament in a week’s time.
Let’s all rally behind the Gilas cagebelles.
