The Gilas women's program is looking to draw an improved and more competitive pool of players from the second staging of the Manila Hustle for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup 3x3 along with its lined up tournaments this year. 

Coming up bigger and better this year, the all-women tournament, which is slated Feb. 3 to 4 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall, is seeing 16 participating teams including six local squads bannered by reigning champion Gilas Pilipinas women’s Mikka Cacho, Kristine Cayabyab, Camille Clarin, Monique Del Carmen and Luisa San Juan. 

As the busy year kicks off for the women’s national basketball team, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Executive Director Erika Dy and Manila Hustle tournament director Peachy Medina along with national 3x3 program director Eric Altamirano are all hoping for a bigger turnout that should hopefully help the squad’s preparation for its future competitions and the program’s long-term aspirations. 

“We wanted to use this tournament to evaluate the players in the pool, this gives us a chance to find out who can play for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup 3x3 in March. Very timely that we have the Manila Hustle. I think for the last two weeks that we’ve been playing in the other league ‘yung PBA 3x3, which also has a division for women’s, we wanted to use these tournaments to assess and find out who we can put for the FIBA Asia Cup,” said Altamirano. 

With a noticeable lack of local women’s basketball tournaments in the country, Dy is positive that the competition will drive more success for Gilas women and contribute to its international rankings. 

“It’s very important that even before we go to the international space, we need to provide our clubs with domestic tournaments. So that they can continue operating as a club. Otherwise, if they are just gonna go to an international tournament once or twice a year, then it doesn’t make sense for them to just train for 12 months. When you go to a FIBA Asia tournament or other FIBA tournaments of higher level, [you are prepared]. That’s the value that domestic tournaments give us,” Dy said. 

Aside from the national team returning to defend its title, other Gilas players in Hazel Lim, Jhaz Joson, Trina Guytingco and Kaye Pingol are all expected to carry the fight for their respective squads against their international counterparts. 

“It’s very big. There’s several other players outside of our four Gilas women competing here that are in other teams. So this becomes really a foundation for them to begin working with each other.”