CEBUANOS have something to be proud of in US women’s collegiate basketball after two Fil-Am cagers with Cebuano roots represented the Queen City of the South in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Childhood friends Gabbi San Diego and Camille Malagar both played for the Christopher Newport University (CNU) Captains in the recently concluded tournament finals.
CNU, however, came up short in their 2023 campaign after losing to Transylvania University, 57-52, at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas last Saturday, April 1, 2023.
This year’s CNU set a program record with 31 victories before suffering their first defeat this season in the finals.
Despite losing two of their key starters in Anaya Simmons and Katy Rader, the Cebuano duo helped CNU reach the finals.
San Diego had an impressive performance in the finals as the team’s second leading scorer with 11 points. She also had five assists and two steals. Malagar, who also started for CNU, had six markers, four assists and four boards.
San Diego and Malagar’s parents, Robert San Diego and Max Malagar, are both from Cebu and migrated to the US together after high school in 1987.
The Malagars settled in Southern Maryland, while the San Diegos in Northern Virgina.
This season, San Diego averaged 8.2 points per game, four assists and 1.08 steals. She had an impressive game last March 11 against Tuft, in which she exploded with 32 points along with six assists, three boards and a steal.
Malagar, in the meantime, averaged 6.4 points, 2.6 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest this season. Her best game was on March 3 against Wartburg, wherein she logged 12 markers, eight rebounds and a steal.
Both juniors in CNU, San Diego and Malagar still have another year at a possible run for the NCAA Women’s Division III championship next season. (EKA)