GILAS Pilipinas women’s team slugs it out against fellow winless Lebanon in a do-or-die battle at the close of the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup Division A elimination rounds on Wednesday at the Shenzhen Sports Center in China.
Game time is at 1:30 p.m. (Manila time) with the Nationals eyeing a must win to stay in contention for two big goals — a place in the next round for a sure Division A retention and a spot in the World Cup qualifiers.
Gilas, ranked No. 44, went winless in the first two games with contrasting results in Group B, suffering a 115-39 annihilation at the hands of world No. 2 Australia before falling just short to world No. 9 Japan, 85-82.
Lebanon, for its part, also bowed to Australia, 113-34, and Japan, 72-68.
Only the top team from each group will book an outright semifinal ticket with the second and third-ranked squads duking it out in a qualification to the semifinals.
And Gilas, under the tutelage of coach and program director Pat Aquino, definitely wants that third seed for all the reasons.
A win by the Filipinas against the Lebanese bets would propel them inside the Top 6 for a ticket in the qualifiers of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, where only six tickets from Asia are reserved.
Gilas would also avoid a relegation battle between seventh and eighth-ranked teams to stay in the Division A, where it was promoted for over a decade now.
To do that, Mr. Aquino will lean on anchor Jack Animam, who has been averaging 13.0 points, 9.5 rebounds (third-best in the tourney), 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 block.
Ms. Animam, the longest-tenured Gilas player at 26 years old, harvested 24 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in Gilas’ foiled comeback against Japan from 22 points down in the last five minutes.
Also in the frontline for Gilas’ first-win bid are Vanessa de Jesus, Louna Ozar, Naomi Natalie Panganiban and Sumayah Sugapong. — John Bryan Ulanday