Gilas Women definitely exceeded expectations.
Gilas Pilipinas Women ended its valiant campaign in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup in sixth place after an 80-71 defeat to South Korea in the classification phase on Saturday in Sydney, Australia.
Afril Bernardino led Gilas Women with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Jack Animam and Khate Castillo had 12 points of their own, while Jhazmin Joson added 9 markers.
The national team fought tooth-and-nail once more against a tough South Korean side as it proved it can compete with some of the best in the world.
For coach Pat Aquino, their performance is indicative of what the team wants to achieve in future tournaments.
“It embraced the future of what we're gonna have for women's Philippine basketball, and I hope this part would burn like a big burn in the coming years,” Aquino said durng the post-game press conference.
“The turnaround was a great feeling for everybody and they know now how to win, they know how to compete, and we just keep on pushing,” he added.
Jhoscon, meanwhile, said that their performance could be the boost that other Filipinas need to join Gilas.
“I feel like the girls back home, they would support us and they would come and join us just to see like what kind of competition there is out there,” said Jhocson.
Indeed, Gilas Women proved that the attention shouldn’t be just on the men’s side as the former proved it can play world-class hoops.
“For me, it's making the noise,” said Aquino. “It's not just men's basketball in the Philippines, but women's basketball is coming right up and I hope that the support will continue and get bigger.”
Indeed, Gilas Women is on the come up, and this is only the start of something big.
(MDB)