A heavy four-game bill ushers in the 1st Rexona Women’s Invitational Tournament as top collegiate teams slug it out with two fancied clubs for the bragging rights as the country’s premier women’s basketball squad starting on Saturday at the Buddhacare gym in Quezon City.
Led by three-time UAAP champion National University-Ever Bilena and UCBL’s Centro Escolar University, the collegiate squads pit their skills against Discovery Sports and Air Force – teams backstopped by former national and varsity players – in the tournament designed to further boost women’s basketball in the country.
Also taking part in the event presented by Rexona and organized by the PCABL are Far Eastern University-Multimotors, Adamson-Mighty Sports, University of the East-Cherrylume, and University of the Philippines.NU, bidding to extend its UAAP reign to four years, faces an acid test in the opener as it battles Air Force at 9 a.m. with the CEU Lady Scorpions clashing with the FEU Lady Tamaraws at 10:45 a.m. and the UE Lady Warriors taking on the Lady Maroons at 12:30 p.m.
Handled by coach Mike Fermin, Adamson-Mighty Sports hopes to pull off a surprise win when it goes up against Discovery Sports at 2:15 p.m.
Sherwin Ang, Customer Business Manager of Uniliver, said they are supporting the league, knowing full well female basketball players need more exposure to catch up with the country’s Southeast Asian rivals.
Jeff Lim, Uniliver Key Customer manager, said the tournament also bodes well to the collegiate teams who are preparing for their respective leagues.