Gilas women settle for silver medal in FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup

GILAS PILIPINAS women’s historic silver medal finish in the just concluded FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in Singapore is a validation that Philippine women’s basketball has risen to unimaginable heights where a podium finish ambition in a regional meet this massive is no longer unthinkable.

On Easter Sunday, the Filipinas of Kacey Dela Rosa, Afril Bernardino, Cheska Apag and Mikka Cacho settled for the silver after they succumbed in an 18-9 defeat to the bigger, taller Australians headed by eventual MVP and WNBA player from the Toronto Tempo in Kristy Wallace in the gold medal match.

But that silver shone like gold as it was the highest finish by the country not just in this tournament but also in any Asian-level meets in years.

What made it more memorable was the country brought down World Cup silver winner Mongolia in the quarterfinals and third seed Japan in the semis that set it a date with destiny.

And Ms. Cacho, playing assistant coach, described it best.

“We believed,” she said.

The country hopes to replicate, if not eclipse it, when it plunges back into action in the FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2026 qualifiers slated this Saturday and Sunday also in Singapore where the top three will advance to the World Cup set on June 1 to 7 in Warsaw, Poland.

In Singapore, Gilas is bracketed in Pool A with Hungary, Lithuania and Egypt.

The country’s emergence started 11 years ago in Wuhan, China where it earned Division A promotion and consistently hung on to that spot and never left.

Last year, the squad finished sixth in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Shenzhen that booked it a trip to the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament and vaulted from No. 44 in the world rankings to No. 39 and seventh among Asians.

Along the way, the country reclaimed its dominance by copping the Southeast Asian Games gold in Thailand in December last year.

The arrival of a new star in Ms. Dela Rosa, a two-time UAAP MVP from Ateneo de Manila University, was one of the biggest keys to Gilas’ ascension.

Also on its plate is next year’s FIBA Asia Cup that the country will host.

There, the host nation will no longer settle for a competitive effort but will directly shoot for the stars and eye another podium finish that was more plausible now than in the decades past. — Joey Villar