ONE step forward rather than two steps back.
Coach Pat Aquino was just relieved that the Gilas Pilipinas Women remained in Division A of the 2021 Fiba Women's Asia Cup after its big 74-70 victory over India on early Friday morning in Amman.
Pat Aquino on Gilas Women vs India
"I'm just so happy. I’m very, very happy with the girls. They didn’t stop competing," he said, looking for the right words as he was overcome with emotion for the Philippines' seventh place finish in the continental tilt.
Gilas Women rookie Ella Fajardo celebrates as the national team goes on its way to win.
It wasn't the best trips for Gilas Women which came to Jordan as heavy underdogs and whose woes was further compounded by its lack of ceiling and only having one month of training under its belt.
That was evident in the tough Group B play as it got waylaid by an average losing margin of 65.3 points, falling to world no. 7 China by 91 points, 143-52; by 64 points to world no. 3 Australia, 120-56; and by 41 points to Chinese Taipei, 93-52.
But the India win eased all those pains away, keeping Gilas Women among the top teams in Fiba Asia at least until 2023.
"I know for the past three games, we were struggling definitely. But today, I know they played together and as a team. It was a good victory for us," said Aquino as he drew superb games from Janine Pontejos and Khate Castillo, both of whom combined for 11 of the Philippines' 15 triples, as well as the superwoman effort from Afril Bernardino.
Tough as this campaign was, the soft-spoken mentor believes that these are all just growing pains.
What's crucial is for the Filipinas, ranked 51st in the world, to take full advantage of these experiences and exposure playing against some of the world's best teams in hopes of soon closing the gap and be competitive against them in future duels.
"I’m really so happy being here and competing with the girls. Us bringing them out here even with all those bubble trainings and coming here, I’m just so proud of the girls," he said. "Hopefully, we can do it every time there is this kind of tournament. The goal of this team is to compete and compete and play well with the very best."
And Aquino is just hopeful that more support would come Gilas Women's way in order to sustain the program's continued ascent.
"Hopefully, more sponsors would come in and help us grow more. I think with that, we’ll be more competitive in the coming tournaments," he said.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph