By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Pilipinas women’s team will be leaning on its twin towers Jack Animam and Kacey Dela Rosa in its bid in the FIBA Women’s Olympic pre-Qualifying Tournament 2026 in Guadalajara, Mexico from Aug. 18 to 24.
The twin towers will also have Gilas veterans Afril Bernardino and Janine Pontejos together with Filipina-American and former Duke University standout Vanessa de Jesus.
Also part of the crew are Kent Pastrana, Louna Ozar, Jhaz Joson, Angel Surada, Monique Del Carmen and Alyssa Rodriguez and young gun Sophia Dignadice.
The tournament will also serve as the first acid test for the Gilas women’s head coach Burke ‘BT’ Toews.
Although the new Gilas coach is hoping for a good showing from his charges, he is also tempering expectations especially against some of the high-ranking teams in its group.
The Nationals are drawn in Group B where they will play a single-round robin group stage against Canada, host Mexico and Senegal.
“It would be great to win the Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Mexico, but that’s going to be a huge hurdle for us. It would be, I think, world news if it happened,” admitted Toews.
“You’ve got Canada in there. But there are teams in our pool that are definitely beatable. And so that’s what we focus on. And the first game is against the hosts,” he added.
The world No. 30 opens its campaign against the Mexicans on Aug. 18 before taking on the Canadians on Aug. 20 and then closing the group stage against the Senegalese on the 21st.
The Nationals are eyeing one of the top two spots in its group to advance to the semifinals.
