The 12-woman roster will be led by veterans Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos, and Clare Castro, and will be joined by five more holdovers from the gold-medal winning team at the 30th Southeast Asian Games, including Andrea Tongco, Chack Cabinbin, Ria Nabalan, Khate Castillo, and Mar Prado.

Gilas Pilipinas Women will also feature new faces for the team, including Ella Fajardo, Camille Clarin, Kristine Cayabyab, and Karl Ann Pingol, who will all be making their national team debuts.

The sixth seed Philippines is in Group B and will face China on September 27, followed by Australia on September 29 and Chinese Taipei on September 30.

Despite taking a rough road on their Amman stint, Coach Pat Aquino said that the team is taking it “one day at a time, one practice at a time” to improve their chemistry and to learn their plays by heart.

Gilas Women had only two weeks to prepare for the games, and they spent it at their training bubble at the Summit Point Golf & Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.

“Even though we had limited time, we didn’t take our court time for granted. Everything is game speed not only [to improve] conditioning-wise but also to be prepared for the competition to come,” Aquino said.

Only the top three teams in the group will advance to the crossover knockout rounds.