By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Jack Animam will spearhead the Philippine women’s basketball team that will compete in the 42nd William Jones Cup scheduled on Aug. 5 to 9 in Chinese Taipei.
The 12-player Gilas women’s team will also have Southeast Asian Games campaigners Janine Pontejos, Afril Bernardino and Stefanie Berberabe, as well as Fil-Am Malia Bambrick and UAAP Season 85 Rookie of the Year Kacey Dela Rosa.
Completing the roster are returning Gabi Bade and Sofia Roman, Monique Del Carmen, Louna Ozar, Andrea Tongco and Jhazmin Joson.
Animam has just signed a deal with the Wuhan Shengfan Professional Basketball Club in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association.
The Jones Cup will be returning for the first time since 2019 after being sidelined for three years due to the pandemic.
In 2019, the Filipina dribblers battled with five other teams from Japan, Korea, New Zealand and China (two teams), but failed to win a single match in five matches.
But the squad hopes for a different outcome this time as some members of the crew are using their experience at the recent 32nd SEAG in Cambodia as a springboard, where the PH team won the silver medal in 5-on-5 and 3×3 events.
