Gilas women sweep way to Pinoyliga crown

MANILA, Philippines -- Gilas Pilipinas completed a clean sweep of its campaign in the first ever women’s tournament of Pinoyliga Cup as it downed the Army Altama, 88-79, last week at the Enderun Colleges gymnasium in Taguig City.

Kate Bobadilla led the national team with 19 points; while veteran sharpshooter Janine Pontejos had 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point territory.

Longtime national team member Afril Bernardino added 11 points, six rounds, three steals and two shot blocks; while Jack Animam finished with six points, 11 boards, three assists and three steals.

Bernardino was later named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

She joined fellow national team members Stefanie Berberabe, Louna Ozar and Animam, as well as Army’s Nathalie Prado to the first ever Mythical Team of the event organized by Prime Edge Marketing Consultancy.

Camille Sambile led the Army with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Prado contributed 23 points.

The participation of the Gilas women’s national team in the Pinoyliga Women’s competition is part of their preparation for the 2024 FIBA Women’s World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament (PQT) this August in Rwanda.

The team is Group C with Senegal, Hungary and Brazil.

“We are very much satisfied with the overall performance of the team, of course there are still some things that we need to fix before the Pre-Qualifying meet but we are getting there,” said Gilas women’s coach Pat Aquino.

In a show of all-out support to women’s basketball, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas  executive director Erika Dy fully backed the participation of the Gilas Pilipinas women’s team in the Pinoyliga, a brainchild of Prime Edge chief Benny Benitez.

Aside from Gilas and Army, the first ever women’s cup also had Far Eastern University and Enderun Colleges as participants. The Lady Tamaraws downed the Lady Titans, 83-53, in the battle for third place.

In the semifinals, Gilas, which went 3-0 in the preliminary round, defeated Enderun 103-51, while Army edged FEU 66-53.