Perlas unfazed by Level I foes

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will make its debut in the eight-team Level I division at the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup in Bangalore, India, on July 23-29 and Perlas coach Pat Aquino said yesterday while he expects the opposition to be tough, the mindset is never to back down from adversity.

Perlas is bracketed in Group B with South Korea, Japan and Australia while Group A is made up of New Zealand, Chinese-Taipei, the Democratic Republic of Korea and China. Each team plays groupmates once in the first round after which the placings will determine the pairings for the knockout quarterfinals which are: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs B1. The winners move on to the semifinals with the survivors battling for the title in the final.

The four semifinalists will earn tickets to represent the region at the 16-team FIBA Women’s World Cup in Spain on Sept. 22-30, 2018. The World Cup will feature host Spain, Olympic champion US, five qualifiers from Europe, two from Africa, three from the Americas and four from Asia.

“This is historic for the Philippines,” said Aquino who has piloted NU to a 48-0 record and three straight UAAP senior women’s titles since 2014. “We’ve never made it to Level I before. In India, we’ll go up against Asian champion Japan and Oceania champion Australia in the same bracket. We’ll play bigger teams but we’re not intimidated. Moving up to Level I was our goal and now that we’re in, we’ll make the most of it.”

Aquino said he’s bracing for the rough sailing. “It’s possible we’ll be overwhelmed,” he said. “I told the girls to go out there and just play our game. We’ll show what we Filipinos are made of. We’re not going to adjust to other teams, let them adjust to us. This is a learning experience. There’s a chance we’ll be relegated down to Level II but we’ll fight to stay in Level I.”

Aquino said the FIBA Asia Cup will be a perfect preparation for the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19-31. “I think there are advantages and disadvantages to play in Level I,” he said. “The advantage is it will make us tougher and better prepared for the SEA Games where we’ve never won a gold medal in women’s basketball. The disadvantage is if we lose by big margins, it might bring down our morale. The key is to get better. We’re not scared of any team and we’ll play to win, no matter the odds.”

Last month, Aquino took the Perlas pool of 16 players to a three-game exhibition tour of Malaysia. One of the games was against the Malaysia U16 boys team. Perlas was down by 20, trimmed the gap to six then ended up losing by 12. He said Perlas will play tune-up games to get ready for Bangalore against high school boys teams from FEU, Arellano, NU and others. 

The pool of 16 is composed of Allana Lim, Ambie Almazan, Jack Animam, Clare Castro, Camille Sambile, Afril Bernardino, Gemma Miranda, Cindy Resultay, Janine Pontejos, Raiza Palmera Dy, Andrea Tongco, Chack Cabinbin, Ara Abaca, Ewon Arayi, Shelley Gupilan and Lovejoy Sto. Domingo.

Last year, Perlas won the SEABA crown with a perfect 6-0 record in Malacca. Castro, Miranda, Arayi and Sto. Domingo are the only players in the current pool not in the SEABA roster.  Aquino said Castro, Bernardino, Lim, Cabinbin, Almazan and Animam are among the shoo-ins for the team bound for Bangalore.

Aquino said it’s not likely there will be time for Philippine-born American Kelly Hardeman to be issued a Filipino passport so she can be eligible to play at the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup as a naturalized citizen. Hardeman, 23, lived in Manila for 18 years before starring at Asuza Pacific University, a Christian NCAA Division II school near Los Angeles. She played four years at Asuza Pacific, earning All-America Second Team honors as a senior in 2015-16. Hardeman recently played as an import in the Danish league and said it would be an honor to play for the country where she was born.