Gilas Pilipinas Women veteran Jack Animam was in high spirits even as their comeback fell short against Japan in the FIBA Asia Women's Cup.
Gilas Pilipinas Women mainstay Jack Animam took the positives away after the team absorbed a narrow loss against world no. 9 Japan, 82-85, in their second match of Group B action at the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Shenzhen, China on Monday.
Recovering quickly from a 76-point beatdown at the hands of Australia on Sunday, the Gilas Women showed more fight and the iconic Filipino “puso” when they stormed back from being down by as many as 22 points midway through the fourth quarter.
[READ: Gilas Women comeback falls short vs Japan in FIBA Women’s Asia Cup]
Gilas went on a scorching 18-0 run to get within four points, 79-83, with 15 ticks left in the ball game — leaving Japan without a point for more than five minutes in the pivotal fourth quarter.
After the match, Animam said that it was a good feeling to see her teammates step up to the challenge.
“First of all, congrats to Japan. You know, Japan is Japan and us coming in as an underdog and all of my teammates are [young]. I think we’re the youngest team here. Before the game, I just told them the game is gonna be hard but no matter what we have to fight and take pride with what we do,” Animam said, as she finished with a double-double of 24 points and 14 rebounds.
“I’m just so proud of them, because we rise up to the challenge and even we lost, it still feels like a win for us because of how we played together and how we bounced back from yesterday’s loss.”
Animam personally also had a bounce back game after she was limited to just two points on a dismal shooting night of 1-of-11 against the Opals.
But for Gilas Women head coach Pat Aquino, he was delighted to see his younger players respond well.
Youth players Sumayah Sugapong and Naomi Panganiban both ended up with double-digit outings in the close loss to the Asian powerhouse.
Just now playing on this level, Aquino was happy to see them flourishing in just their second game of the tournament.“Once again, a tough loss but a good bounce back from yesterday’s game. I think the girls are more… They have the grit now. They’re playing together,” Aquino said.
“Hopefully, we get one more game as good as this, it will be okay,” he added.
Gilas is on the brink of elimination from qualifying to the next round. However, the national team will have one more game to turn their fortunes around against Lebanon.
Both at 0-2, their game will determine who gets to move on to the quarterfinals. Also on the line is a spot in the qualifying tournament of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup.
Gilas locks horns with Lebanon for their final match of group phase on Wednesday, July 16.