Filipina guard Vanessa De Jesus suffers season-ending knee injury

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

What an unfortunate time for the Gilas Pilipinas women’s program and the Duke University basketball program.

Vanessa De Jesus, a Filipina guard who was fresh off a dominant FIBA Women’s Asia Cup campaign with the Gilas national team and is the current floor general of the Duke women’s basketball program, just suffered a season-ending knee injury confirmed last August 1, 2023.

It was Duke that confirmed De Jesus’ status, revealing that the guard won’t be suiting up for the upcoming 2023-2024 season due to a knee injury.

Further details regarding the specific injury weren’t disclosed by the prestigious US-based school located in North Carolina.

“Duke women’s basketball senior guard Vanessa De Jesus will miss the upcoming 2023-2024 season after sustaining a knee injury,” wrote the program.

Through De Jesus’ stint at Duke, she already played a total of 66 games and averaged 5.1 points and 2.0 assists during the past seasons.

This will also serve as a huge blow for the Gilas women’s national program after De Jesus helped the squad finish sixth in the FIBA Asia Cup.

Despite being a first-timer donning the Gilas jersey, De Jesus was quick to introduce herself in the FIBA stage after averaging 12.8 points and 3.2 assists in just five games.

The Gilas program is yet to unveil the list of their international tournaments this year but De Jesus’ absence will again leave a huge void in their backcourt.

Speedy recovery, Vanessa!