Puerto Rico roster dotted with several new faces for Women’s World Cup Qualifiers

 MIAMI (United States) – The Puerto Rico Basketball Federation (FBPUR) announced the team that will compete in the FIBA ​​Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament, which will be played between the 10th and 14th of this month, in Washington, DC (United States) and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

National team veterans Pamela Rosado, Jennifer O'Neill, Michelle González, Jazmone Gwathmey and Isalys Quiñones, all how just performed at the past Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are on the roster. In addition, there will be Mari Plácido and Sofía Roma, who have already had a previous experience on the national team and five rookies, including point guard Arella Guirantes, who has just played in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks (3.2 points in 11.6 minutes per game). Others who will make their debut are guard Kaela Hillaire, forward Brianna Jones and post players Frances Flores and Paulette Addison.

"During this growth process of the program, we decided to go to this tournament with a group that has a mix of veterans and new players, with the hope of getting one of those tickets to the World Cup," head coach Gerardo Batista said in a statement from the FBPUR. "We know this is a strong tournament, very competitive and of a high level. We had a very complicated group with the United States, world champion, Belgium and Russia, who we know are powers. It is a great challenge for us but we are very hopeful to do the job to achieve our World Cup qualifying goal. The most important thing is that the program continues to grow and tournaments like these help us to grow,” he added.

The two top teams in the group will get the ticket to the World Cup to be held in Australia. The United States has already secured their spot by its status as Olympic champion.

Puerto Rico in the Qualifying Tournament will premiere in Washington DC against Belgium on the 10th. Then it will go against the North Americans on the 12th and will close against Russia on the 14th, in Santo Domingo.

FIBA