Jack Animam heads to Australia NBL for latest career move
MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Women center Jack Animam added another stop to her well-traveled basketball career after signing with Australian club team Ringwood Hawks of the National Basketball League 1 on Thursday, March 28.
Animam, who just concluded her stint with Wuhan Shengfan in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA), will be playing in her fifth pro squad after also previously playing in Serbia and France.
She first played professionally for Radnicki Kragujevac in Serbia, where she injured her knee, eventually recovering from it.
The center then headed west and represented Toulouse Metropole as well as USO Mondeville in France.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to bring Jack to Ringwood, we have been following her journey for a while now and really excited to finally have her here,” head coach Jeremy O’Toole said, as quoted by Australia-based newspaper The Philippine Times.
Animam trained with the Gilas Pilipinas squad in between her games in the Chinese league, where she averaged 11.4 points on 58.1% shooting and 12.0 rebounds.
The first Filipino to play in the WCBA, Animam had 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in her debut contest.
Wuhan lagged in the standings, finishing 10-26 for 14th place out of 19 teams.
Prior to signing with Wuhan, she helped lead Gilas Women to the Asian Games quarterfinals before they got the boot from South Korea.
The Philippines also took home the silver medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games held in Cambodia in 2023. – Rappler.com