Tigresses rue lack of effort in another loss to Lady Bulldogs

MANILA, Philippines — The University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses admitted Wednesday that they lacked effort after being swept by the National University Lady Bulldogs in the elimination round of UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament.

The defending champions absorbed a narrow 76-70 loss to last year’s runners-up.

UST’s two losses this season thus far came from the still-undefeated NU. The Espana-based dribblers came up short by six points as well in their first round encounter, 75-69. 

After Wednesday’s game, Tigresses star Kent Pastrana rued her team’s effort in the defeat. 

“Yung effort talaga [ang kulang]. Nakulangan sa effort kasi yun, parang bumitaw kasi alam naman naming kayang-kaya namin,” she told reporters.

“Siguro ayun nga, lesson learned sa amin na nag-short kami sa effort. Mas marami kaming natutunan ngayon, hindi pa naman tapos ang laban. Siguro sa mga next, sa remaining games namin, i-apply namin yung kung ano ang mga natutunan namin,” she added.

The Sampaloc-based squad hauled down 47 total rebounds compared to the Espana-based cagers’ 32. 

NU also had more second chance points with 22, against UST’s 12. 

This was echoed by UST head coach Haydee Ong.

“Let’s give credit to NU, they played better today. So, yung mga adjustment namin na sinabi nung halftime, unfortunately hindi namin na-execute yung offense namin, they played better defense than us,” Ong said. 

“We gave them 20 plus points sa second chance points and that spells the story about today’s game,” she added. 

“We were outrebounded, at the same time, we’ve given so many second chance points sa kanila. Yun talaga ang lesson against NU, to minimize the second chance points and get more rebounds kasi tambak kami sa rebounds.” 

And with three games remaining in the season, Pastrana underscored that the lessons will be brought the rest of the way. 

“Ito, ginagawa lang naming motivation yung mga laban na natalo namin sa kanila kasi yun nga, sinasabi namin sa sarili namin, heads up kasi hindi pa naman tapos ang laban. Bawi kami next game, sa remaining games namin and hopefully kami pa rin ang magtatapat sa finals,” she said. 

While UST’s six-game losing streak was snapped, Ong stressed that they are still “very optimistic” with three games remaining in the eliminations. 

“We’re sad na hindi nakuha yung panalo namin but very optimistic pa rin kami. Sabi ko nga sa mga girls sa dug out, we still have three games to solidify our number two spot. If ever may stepladder man o wala, we’ll be ready for the Final Four,” she said. 

“Parati naman, parati kami against NU, we’re the underdogs. Hindi naman kami yung kumbaga ang liyamado sa laban parati. We’re catching up on them. Sana magkita ulit kami sa finals. We’re hoping na at least for the last three games namin, yun muna ang fino-focus namin.” 

UST is now holding a 9-2 win-loss record and will face University of the East on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.