Gilas women’s team opens FIBA Asia Cup campaign against Australia

By: Leobert Julian A.de la Peña

Chants of “Laban Pilipinas, Puso!” will storm the basketball community once again when the Gilas women’s team will fly to Bengaluru, India to kick off their campaign in the 2019 FIBA Asia Cup.

Determined to avenge the Gilas men’s outing in the recently concluded FIBA World cup, the ladies are ready to grind and battle it out against the other teams in the tourney.

However, the Gilas women’s team will be tested early as they face the powerhouse Australian national team.

Several Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players are front-lining the Australian team, and five of them are notable star players.

Bec Allen of the New York Liberty, Liz Cambage of the Las Vegas Aces, Steph Talbot and Leilani Mitchell of Phoenix Mercury, and Ezi Magbegor of the Seattle Storm all play for Australia and it will be a tough assignment for the Gilas team to contain them.

Despite the disparity in size and experience, Gilas head coach Patrick Aquino is taking this as a learning experience and remains unfazed with the match-up.

“This is definitely the exposure that we needed. We were really looking for a good tournament and this one gives us an opportunity to play against some of the world’s best. We’ll show everyone that we can compete” Aquino said.

Both teams will clash tomorrow.