Puerto Rico demands more respect at women’s FIBA World Cup after eliminating Turkey

BERLIN (AP) — Puerto Rico coach Gerardo Batista feels his team’s achievements at the women’s FIBA World Cup are still not getting the recognition they deserve.

Batista said Monday he told his players that not even the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT believed in them after it failed to recognize that Puerto Rico had qualified for three straight World Cup tournaments and two Olympic Games in between.

“Nobody thinks we deserve to be here,” Batista said after his team came from behind to beat Turkey 75-71 to emerge from a tough group that also included European champion Belgium and Asia Cup champion Australia.

“Not everybody, right, but most of the people,” Batista said. “As I told my team, ’You earn their respect by winning.”

Puerto Rico produced a strong finish with big points from Arella Guirantes (21), Trinity San Antonio (18), and Imani McGee-Stafford (16), to eliminate Turkey in what had been a showdown for survival after both teams lost their opening two games.

Batista, who took over as Puerto Rico coach in 2014, was unable to contain his pride.

“We’re here, you know? And if you face us, you’re supposed to beat us, but we’re gonna go as hard as we can to try to beat you,” he said. “And it’s not about looking good at defeats. It’s trying to win and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Puerto Rico, which reached the quarterfinals at the 2022 World Cup in Sydney, next faces the winner between Italy and China, playing later Monday, in a playoff on Wednesday for a place in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

San Antonio echoed the words of her coach.

“At the end of the day, he said it best in practice, we will never get the respect we deserve unless we earn it,” the point guard said. “So each time we get out there, we’re gonna go out there and we’re going to earn it and we’re gonna to show the world why Puerto Rico belongs."

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