Fil-Hawaiian cager Lexi Pana finds home and a championship with Pilipinas Aguilas in the Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
There’s not a lot of places that Fil-Hawaiian hooper Lexi Pana hasn’t been to — having spent her five-year professional basketball career in various countries and leagues around the world.
But for Pana, whose Filipino grandparents encouraged her to come back to the motherland to play, there was nothing sweeter than finding her place with the Pilipinas Aguilas in Manny Pacquiao’s Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (WMPBL).
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Winning the inaugural championship in the WMPBL Invitational that prefaces the league’s first professional season, Pana had no doubt that her first foray into Philippine basketball is one of the biggest — if not the biggest — highlight of her career so far.
“My experience here has been probably the best experience that I’ve had out of all of my professional career. I’ve been playing for five years and it’s just been nice to be in the Philippines,” Pana told media at the sidelines of their Game 3 win over the UST Growling Tigresses last Wednesday.
“The hospitality here is really good and I just hope that I can come back for the next season.”
The Central Washington University alumni was pivotal in their title run, even nabbing the Finals MVP award. In the title-clinching Game 3 victory, Pana had 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Having gone through adversity en route to the title, especially against a gritty and equally-capable Growling Tigresses, Pana relished being able to lead her team to the win.
Pana, though, admitted that it was a bittersweet victory as one of her biggest supporters in her grandfather has already passed on. Still, it was a big thing for her to be able to achieve something so big in her first year in the Philippines.
“I’m gonna get really emotional so I’m not gonna think about it. But it’s really nice that I finally got to play here. My family’s talked about it a lot, especially my grandpa. He’s been like my number one fan since I started playing,” said Pana.
“Unfortunately, he’s not with us anymore so it’s really nice that I finally got to play here and got this win in the first season,” she added.
Undoubtedly, Pana is one of the more experienced players on the field — especially with her stints in the Euro Cup. She’s played in Romania, Lithuania, Germany, and Luxembourg. Adding to that, she was also a US NCAA alum.
Still, there was a lot of getting used for Pana, including the pace and physicality of the game in the Philippines.
“I can’t stress enough like how fast the guards are here. I’m usually a point guard, that’s like my main position overseas and I’m technically small, and everyone laughs at me because I’m like one of the biggest people here. So I have no choice but to play a post player,” she said.
“So, [it’s] just like the fast pace of the game and also the physicality is a lot more different because it’s not just like post players being physical, but also the guards.”
Now that she has the inaugural invitational championship under her belt, Pana hopes to return again soon when the league goes professional in June. However, it all remains up in the air as she’s also expected to return to the Euro Cup.
“It depends how long the season is because technically, my European season starts in September, October.” she said on the possibility of returning next season.
Regardless, Pana understands the impact of the tournament for women’s basketball.
Being fortunate enough to be able to play her game abroad, Pana said that she’s happy to see her fellow Filipinas find a home in the WMPBL.
“I definitely thank Pilipinas Aguilas because I wouldn’t have been here without them and to be a part of the first season ever, it’s really been close to my heart,” said Pana.
“Especially because, I’ve been lucky and blessed to have been able to play in college and been able to play overseas. So it’s really nice. Especially, a lot of the players came out of retirement, and then the college girls finally have something after college. So it’s really nice.”