Gilas women’s coach laments height disadvantage vs foes in FIBA Women's Asia Cup
MANILA, Philippines – In basketball, a lot of premium is put on height.
Unfortunately for Gilas women's head coach Pat Aquino, that's something his squad in Amman, Jordan for the 2021 FIBA Women's Asia Cup doesn't have.
Missing the services of tall players like 6-foot Kelli Hayes and 6-foot-5 Jack Animam in the regional tournament, Aquino's wards have been forced to play small ball — averaging 5'8" against teams whose average height is at least an inch taller than ours.
The disparity showed in the Filipina's first two games, where they were pummeled by the bigger players of China and Australia that resulted in 143-52 and 120-56 blowout losses, respectively.
"It's really hard. It's a tough group that we're in," Aquino said of his team's losses.
"I think being the smallest among the group and having a game with those more experienced players, we tried to get there," he added.
Owing to their lack of height, the Filipinas were greatly outrebounded in both games. They were also pushed around in the paint, with their opponents easily getting shots over their smaller defenders.
Save for the 6-foot-4 Clare Castro, players from China and Australia are usually head and shoulders above their Gilas counterparts.
Despite the physical handicap, Aquino believes his team is slowly reaching the goal of stepping up their game in the hopes of being more competitive.
"We try to improve every day, and we hope that we could be competitive in the future," Aquino said.
"Having the girls play and getting experience against those two tough teams we played, we'd like to move on and adjust and probably just compete. That's the main purpose here, compete," he added.
The Gilas women hope to stage an upset against Chinese Taipei in their final group phase game on Wednesday (Thursday midnight, Manila time).
The Filipinas need a win here to avoid falling into a do-or-die relegation battle and move on to the next round of the tournament.
- Latest
- Trending
