Ionescu’s Manila tour shows how PH women’s basketball has grown, says Clarin

WNBA Champion Sabrina Ionescu during a basketball clinic in BGC, as a part of her 2025 Sabrina Manila Tour: Craft the Future, March 10, 2025, in Taguig City. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.MANILA — New York Liberty superstar Sabrina Ionescu had the chance to show Filipino hoopers a glimpse of her prowess as she started her 2025 Manila Tour.

The one-time WNBA Champion joined women and men, young and old, in a basketball clinic as a part of her Craft the Future visit here, and among those who witnessed Ionescu’s talent was Gilas Pilipinas Women’s 3x3 player Camille Clarin.

Clarin was in attendance as Ionescu, together with UAAP women’s basketball players and alums Kacey Dela Rosa and Jhaz Joson of Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines’ Louna Ozar, and De La Salle University’s Marga Jimenez, led the skills and drills camp at the Courtyard in BGC on Monday.

“To be in the same space with her and to hear her thoughts, there are no words to talk about how great that feeling was,” said the National University champion ace.

Ionescu served as inspiration for Clarin especially since they were dealt with Finals losses in their respective leagues in 2023.

The 2020 WNBA Draft 1st overall pick and New York were dumped by the Las Vegas Aces in the 2023 Finals, while Clarin and the Lady Bulldogs were stunned by University of Santo Tomas in Season 86.

Both of them came back and retaliated by winning the championship in 2024, and for Clarin, embracing the lessons — much like how Ionescu did — was the catalyst to their eventual glory.

“Those losses, they are part of the game,” said Clarin. “And I think, detaching yourself from the outcome, and just enjoying the process of becoming a better player, that’s what I took away from our conversation the most.”

However, Clarin is looking at the bigger picture. Ionescu is more than just an inspiration for her. The Filipina star pointed out how the University of Oregon and her visit to the Philippines signal how the women’s hoops have further elevated throughout the years.

“To see is to believe. Especially here in the Philippines, women’s basketball isn’t as glorified as the men’s,” she said. “So I think for Sabrina to be here — the first Nike athlete to come here after the pandemic — it shows that they are taking the women’s game seriously now.”