The Gilas Pilipinas Youth women’s 3×3 team is looking to make a mark in the region by winning the FIBA U17 3×3 Asia Cup 2022 in Malaysia.

Coach Pat Aquino has put together a team with a good mix of players with experience from previous 5×5 competitions this year, as well as a couple of new names that could pull off surprises in their first international foray.

Camille Nolasco and BJ Villarin will be playing their third FIBA tournament this year. Both players were part of the Gilas Youth teams that competed in the FIBA Women’s U16 and U18 Asian Championships earlier this year.

Nolasco is a 5’4” shooting guard from Miriam College. She averaged 6.8 points and 2.8 assists across both tournaments. She’s one of the best defenders on the team as she swiped the ball a total of 26 times to average 2.6 steals in the 10 international games she’s played so far this year.

Villarin is a National University High School product who will be manning the paint for this team. The 5’6” power forward averaged 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in the nine games she played across two tournaments.

Joining the two are newcomers Nicole Pring and Arianna Delos Santos. Pring is Villarin’s teammate at NU. She’s a 5’2” point guard, while Delos Santos is a 5’4” wing from Adamson High School.

Gilas Youth is ranked 13th in the tournament and will kick off their campaign in Qualifying Draw A. Their first assignment will be the 14th-ranked Hong Kong team on October 13 at 2:50 PM. They face a tough test in their next game against the second-seeded Thai team at 4:10 PM.

The Philippines will need to top the Qualifying Draw to advance to the Main Draw phase of the competition. If they do advance, they’ll be part of Pool C with fourth-seeded Sri Lanka and the seventh-ranked Malaysian squad. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.