ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Duke recruit Vanessa De Jesus willing to suit up for Gilas Women: I'm very excited about that

Duke recruit Vanessa De Jesus willing to suit up for Gilas Women: I'm very excited about that

Published Sep 17, 2020 02:46 pm
vanessa de jesus
Duke recruit Vanessa De Jesus is very much willing to play for Gilas Women. (Duke Athletics /

Fil-Am Vanessa De Jesus of Duke University said Thursday that she would make herself available when the opportunity comes to play for the Gilas Pilipinas women’s national team.

An incoming freshman with the Blue Devils, De Jesus has been in constant communications with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) through women’s head coach Pat Aquino.

“I’m interested in playing for the Philippines. I’m very excited about that,” said the California-born De Jesus during a virtual press conference with the Philippine media Thursday.

“I’m very excited about that. “I think it’s amazing just how much all of you guys just know about basketball because it means so much to me. All my family is from there, so having support back home I should say, is really nice.”

A product of the Sierra Canyon Girls’ basketball program, De Jesus, whose parents are from Manila and Pangasinan – will play for Duke this season of the US NCAA. Duke has produced a number of WNBA players, including Tricia Liston of 2015 champion Minnesota Lynx and Alena Beard of 2016 winner Los Angeles Sparks.

Before joining Duke, De Jesus was an All-CIF Open Division 1st team as a high school player and was the Gold Coast League MVP, as well as Southern Section Co-Player of the Year in 2019.

Aquino, who also joined the virtual presser with assistant coach and former PH team member Julie Amos, Mark Solano of the SBP and Duke Athletics External Operations senior associate director of communications Lindy Brown, said De Jesus would be a great addition to Gilas.

“Maganda ang opportunity for her to represent us in international tournaments and she is very much welcome in the Gilas women’s team,” said Aquino, who has steered the women’s national team to gold medal wins in the 5-on-5 and 3x3 events in last year’s Southeast Asian Games here.

As for FIBA-sanctioned tournaments, the 18-year-old De Jesus is no longer eligible to play because of the 16-year-old eligibility rule that requires a player to prove his/her legal nationality through a passport of at least three years validity acquired before turning 16.

 Aquino said that De Jesus could play as a naturalized player in FIBA events.

 But in tournaments like the FIBA 3x3 competitions, Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the Jones Cup, the 5-foot-8 De Jesus can still be part of the national team as a local player.

 De Jesus has been with Duke since August 2.

In the past two weeks, she has joined the team’s practice sessions under head coach Kara Lawson, also a former WNBA champion player and member of the US women's team that bagged the gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Related Tags

Gilas Women Duke University Pat Aquino Duke Blue Devils. Duke Vanessa De Jesus Blue Devils gilas pilipinas
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.