Gilas Women hold Las Vegas camp ahead of Fiba Pre-OQT in Mexico

MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas Women are on the homestretch of their buildup for the Fiba Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament.

The team has arrived in the United States for its five-day training camp in Las Vegas before heading to Guadalajara, Mexico for the pre-qualifiers.

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Spearheading the squad is longtime cornerstone Jack Animam along with former Duke and Notre Dame guard Vanessa De Jesus, rising center Kacey Dela Rosa, and mainstay Afril Bernardino.

Gilas competes in Group B with Canada, Senegal, and host Mexico. The top two teams advance to the semifinals.

The tournament is also Gilas Women’s first under new coach BT Toews.

“We have high goals and we want to win every game we play. And we’ll take it one game at a time,” said the Canadian mentor, who had a successful coaching career in Japan, recently.

After the Fiba tournament, Gilas Women will compete in the Asian Games in Japan next month. The Phillipines has yet to win a medal in the women’s basketball event of the continental meet.