Vanessa De Jesus savors Gilas Women debut, hopes to come back stronger vs Japan

Vanessa De Jesus didn't disappoint in her Gilas Pilipinas Women debut, emerging as the lone bright spot in their 105-34 loss to host Australia in the 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup on Monday.

And the 21-year-old guard felt the love and support from the Philippines despite the lopsided defeat.

"Honestly I've been waiting for this for a while now. It was honestly a dream come true. And I'm just excited to gather again for tomorrow and come out even stronger and enjoy this experience," De Jesus said in the post-game press conference in Sydney, Australia.

"I knew [before] coming in here that we had fans here in Sydney and just finally being here in this atmosphere and just hearing them, honestly, I'm just so grateful for all the love and support from them and it makes the game even more fun."

"We're playing for them so I'm happy to have their support."

Against much taller and more experienced world no. 3 Opals, De Jesus unleashed 18 points on a 58.3-percent shooting percentage. The Duke University star admitted that Australia made adjustments on its defense in the second half, especially after she dropped 14 of her overall output in the opening half.

True enough, the hosts asserted their dominance in the rebounding department with 62 boards while the Philippines had only 22. The Filipinas were also limited to just 11 points in that second half.

"Obviously they were the bigger team and I think, you know, they made adjustments but we also made adjustments but some shots just weren't falling in the second half," De Jesus added.

Still, De Jesus said they will learn from this game as they take on five-time defending champion Japan on Tuesday.

"I think we came out excited to play, but obviously Australia is a good team and I think we can just learn from this and then come back tomorrow even stronger."

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News