Gilas Pilipinas Women head coach Pat Aquino confirmed the participation of Fil-Am guard Vanessa de Jesus in their upcoming tournaments.
Vanessa de Jesus is confirmed to be available for Gilas Pilipinas Women during the upcoming William Jones Cup and the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, according to head coach Pat Aquino.
De Jesus, who spearheaded Gilas’ bid to stay in Division A during her last stint in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup back in 2023, is coming off of a great NCAA season where she helped Duke University reach the Elite Eight in March Madness.
But the 23-year-old is now headed in a new direction, transferring to Notre Dame for her last year of college hoops.
Aquino says that De Jesus will join the team sometime in late June.
“She’s arriving very late. Mga third week of June," said Aquino, who also said that the team would be leaving for Taiwan as early as July 1.
“She’s just went through the transfer portal, now she’s playing for Notre Dame. From Duke to Notre Dame and Notre Dame told her you have to stay because everybody’s gonna be coming in for the month of June before school returns so sabi niya ‘I have to go here. But I’ll be there," Aquino added.
During her debut stint for Gilas Pilipinas, where she is considered a “naturalized player” after obtaining her Philippine passport when she was already 21, de Jesus normed 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in five games played.
With the team possibly missing some veteran players due to clearance issues, de Jesus’ availability is a shot in the arm.
[READ: AFP enlisted Gilas players in danger of missing Jones Cup, FIBA Women’s Asia Cup]
“So I’m very happy din na she committed and hopefully she had a good showing in the last FIBA Asia Cup, hopefully, again with new ones [coming in], we’ll never know,” said Aquino.
Gilas Women are grouped with powerhouses Australia and Japan along with contender Lebanon in the Women’s Asia Cup. The top six teams in the tournament will head to the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Germany.