![\"Naomi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-azwomen-1120-049.jpg\")
Naomi Panganiban #24 of San Diego State is announced before their game against Santa Clara at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nConnections are important to Naomi Panganiban.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a huge extended family,\u201d the San Diego State sophomore guard said earlier this week, talking of a community that goes far beyond her blood relatives. \u201cMy family includes teammates here and in the Philippines. And all Filipinos. There are bonds \u2026 strong bonds.\u201d<\/p>\n
And many of those bonds will be on display Sunday, when SDSU hosts Pacific at 1 p.m. for the Aztecs\u2019 first Filipino Heritage Game. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a Filipino-themed Aztecs T-shirt.<\/p>\n
Panganiban, a native of Chula Vista and a graduate of La Jolla Country Day, is central to Sunday\u2019s events. As soon as she started playing on Montezuma Mesa, Aztec officials noticed an uptick in Filipino Americans attending their games. And it went beyond Panganiban\u2019s immediate family<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s basketball is popular with Filipinos,\u201d said Panganiban. \u201cAnd the popularity is growing, here and in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panganiban knows. For the past two summers, Panganiban and former LJCD teammate Sumayah Sugapong have been members of the Philippines Women\u2019s National Team. Last summer, Panganiban was the youngest member and the leading scorer (13.2 points a game) for a Philippines team that qualified for this year\u2019s FIBA World Cup through its play in the Asia Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t win, but we had our best showing ever,\u201d said Panganiban. \u201cIt excited the Philippines. Basketball in the Philippines is pretty much a part of the lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naomi Panganiban #24 of San Diego State is announced before their game against Santa Clara at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s big in her Filipino family in the United States. Panganiban\u2019s grandparents immigrated to the United States, three as members of the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilipinos are tight,\u201d Panganiban explained. \u201cWe are excited about our successes and are there for others in need. There\u2019s a sense of support, togetherness. It\u2019s really the resiliency of the Filipino culture of putting others before themselves. Make it better. My grandparents and parents sacrificed so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Aztecs coach Stacie Terry-Hutson: \u201cI admire how Naomi and her community lift up and support each other. She doesn\u2019t take that lightly. And that the community has rallied around her is important to her. She\u2019s a representation piece, and she takes a lot of pride in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panganiban said SDSU hosting a Filipino Heritage Game \u201cmeans a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the marketing department first brought it up, I felt a lot of love from the university for me and the Filipino community,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when I\u2019m playing for the Philippines, it\u2019s more like I\u2019m representing two nations, my culture, my roots and San Diego State.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Naomi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-azwomen-1120-027.jpg\")
Naomi Panganiban #24 of San Diego State attempts a 3-pointer against Santa Clara during their game at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Two straight summer trips to the Philippines means Panganiban has been playing basketball almost nonstop for three years. Terry-Hutson lightened the guard\u2019s workload this summer, giving her a month off when she returned from overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt it some, I was a little tired after the Asia Cup,\u201d admitted Panganiban.<\/p>\n
A preseason All-Mountain West pick, Panganiban is averaging 11 points per game this season, second on the team behind fellow guard Nat Martinez (11.3); she\u2019s averaging two assists and one steal per game. Panganiban has committed just five turnovers in 183 minutes and has scored in double figures five times this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball is in her hands a lot,\u201d said Terry-Hutson. \u201cShe\u2019s finding her way with new responsibilities offensively and defensively. Plus, she\u2019s no longer catching other teams by surprise. Everyone knows who she is and what she can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDSU (4-3) has lost two of its last three games, but hasn\u2019t played since falling 83-67 to Penn State on Nov. 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team is going to be as good as the one that won the Mountain West Tournament last year,\u201d said Panganiban. \u201cWe\u2019re a good mix of returning and new players. We\u2019re young and we play fast. We have a lot of potential. It\u2019s a long season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even longer for Panganiban. As soon as the Aztecs\u2019 season ends, she will rejoin the Philippines National Team for the FIBA World Cup in Germany.<\/p>\n
San Diego State (4-3) vs. Pacific (4-4)<\/p>\n
When:<\/strong> 1 p.m. Sunday<\/p>\n Where:<\/strong> VIejas Arena<\/p>\n TV:<\/strong> KUSI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connections are important to Naomi Panganiban. \u201cI have a huge extended family,\u201d the San Diego State sophomore guard…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":429629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1369,1370,3549,7264,18257,62,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-429628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-college-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sdsu-aztecs","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-top-stories-sdut","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115674817080629820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}