Veteran trio spearheads Gilas women SEA Games 2023 ‘three-peat’ bid, 3×3 gold hunt
Gilas Pilipinas Women for SEA Games 2023. –FRANCIS OCHOA/INQUIRER
Veterans Jack Animam and Afril Bernardino, along with skipper Janine Pontejos, will spearhead the Gilas Pilipinas’ women’s team that will shoot for a third straight crown in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
The rosters of the women’s 5-on-5 and 3×3 teams were released on Wednesday, with Animam, Bernardino and Pontejos pulling off double duties.
“I hope they believe in what they’re doing right now … and we play together [in Cambodia],” said national coach Patrick Aquino.
All-around playmaker Ella Fajardo, sweet-shooting Khate Castillo and cat-quick guard Stefanie Berberabe will join the 5-on-5 squad along with forwards Katrina Guytingco, Camille Clarin and Angel Surada, center Clare Castro and guards France Cabinbin and Andrea Tongco.
Animam, who had stints in Serbia and France and is generally regarded as the best woman baller right now, will also anchor the 3×3 squad along with the versatile Bernardino and knockdown gunner Pontejos. Joining them in the 3×3 squad is Mikka Cacho.
Are you ready to watch our Gilas Women's team play for 🇵🇭 in the 32nd SEA Games?
Here are the complete lineups for our 3×3 and 5×5 women's teams that will represent in Phnom Penh, Cambodia!
Via SBP Website » https://t.co/PhN6EYKJIZ pic.twitter.com/MPrbczR0aB
— SBP (@officialSBPinc) May 3, 2023
“There is a lot of pressure on us,” Pontejos told the Inquirer earlier. “We are the ones holding the title so we need to defend that title and among ourselves, we also want to get this third [straight] championship so we’re doing all that we can [to succeed].”
“I always say, [in] everything we do, there’s always pressure,” Animam said. “[But] I mean, we’re just playing. We’re just playing basketball and once we do what we’re supposed to and follow the system implemented by coach Pat, I think it’s going to be easier for us inside the group.
“But yeah, everybody’s coming for us and we know that already but we don’t let that add more tension for us. We’re just still going to be ourselves and we’re still going to play basketball.”
The team spent the homestretch of their training in a bubble in Batangas to iron out the last minor kinks in their title defense.
“[There are no] major concerns [anymore],” Aquino said. “It’s just trying to perfect the motion of the system, our physicality, and then our blending. We try to do more or develop more as a team. I always say, we’re a family, we’re together.”
“As we are approaching crunch time, I feel like the team is really starting to gel, I think a little bit more than last year, even for myself individually,” said Fajardo. “I know how everybody moves, and what coach Pat wants—it’s really just buying into the system, that’s all of us as a whole.
“Of course, there are some days when we work on the things we lack, it could get a little messy. But now is the time to make mistakes. Now is the time that we fix what we need to fix.”
