#SEAGames2019: Newbies Prado and Castillo relish on historic achievement

In defending their home court at the 30th Southeast Asian Games, coach Patrick Aquino turned heads when he had two relatively under-the-radar ladies in Nathalia Prado and Khate Castillo as the Philippines seek to end the gold medal wait that had eluded them in the past 42 years since basketball made its debut in 1977. 

However, the pair had delivered when called to action by Aquino, putting in the hard work to end the nightmare to prove that basketball prevails as the country's national sport.

For Prado, she was just glad to be there after becoming the last-minute replacement for Gemma Miranda, but she rewarded Aquino with limited yet quality minutes despite only averaging just 2 points and 4.8 rebounds, a far cry from her scoring exploits with Adamson wherein she lead all players with 23 points per outing this season.

"Siyempre nakakaproud dahil nakasama ako sa Philippine team na nagbigay ng tiwala sa akin maglaro," she said after they swept the women's tournament for the first gold for the host nation.

In the games, Prado was the third-string small forward behind the NU duo of Afril Bernardino and Ria Nabalan, and every time she stepped on the court to replicate Miranda's game she even felt nervous about it.

"Siyempre kabado din po. Pero naniniwala lang ako sa sistema ni coach Pat," she then said as she finally revels the blessing to be part of something historic after playing in empty arenas during the UAAP season.

In contrast to Prado, Castillo was the primary sniper whenever Janine Pontejos takes a breather, as she leads the bench mob of Gilas Women with her timely shots from beyond the arc en route to a 9-point average per outing, shooting 8/15 from the three-point area in their golden sweep.

The La Salle standout could not even contain her glee after seeing their hard work rewarded with their gold medal in front of the raucous crowd.

"Sobrang saya," Castillo said after the victory ceremonies. "Kasi lahat ng pagod at pawis namin na dinulot namin in almost one year, nasuklian naman ng gold."

For the current Ace of Paranaque, women's basketball is here to stay, in which she hopes that the attention gets consistent after toiling hard in the college scene wherein attendances are rare due to their schedule.

"Dapat lang, para parehas ang men's," she said.

Photo by Kevin Estrada/Pinoyliga.com