MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am Gilas women's prospect Vanessa De Jesus is looking forward to raising the flag for Filipinos as her sophomore year with Duke University looms.
The first-ever Asian to play for the Blue Devils in their women hoops program, De Jesus recently spoke about getting to represent that side of her heritage.
"Honestly I'm just so grateful to have that support because to me, family is everything," De Jesus said during Duke's media availability on Wednesday.
"Knowing that I have that support back home and all, it just motivates me more to keep working, do my best, and stay focused. That's what I'm hoping to do. Just go out there and represent [Filipinos] and myself too," she added.
De Jesus had a short but sweet stint in her freshman year, where she played and started in four games and won three of them.
She averaged 12 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists in her first year at the helm with COVID-19 cutting short her season.
Now, with a full season ahead of her, De Jesus hopes to pick up where she left off and leave even a bigger impression in the US' top collegiate competition.
Apart from De Jesus, a number of Fil-Am talents will be seeing action in US NCAA Women's basketball in Division 1.
Also playing D1 hoops are UPenn's Kayla PAdilla, Washington State's Cherilyn Molina, and Gilas women's Ella Fajardo who plays for Fairleigh Dickinson, to name a few.