Lady Maroons battle NU in UAAP basketball

UNIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons will try to sustain their winning momentum as they face the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. The Lady Maroons survived the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Lady Eagles with Jeanine Bautista sinking both her free throws after Jonette Uy De Ong drew the foul in the dying seconds of the match, 42-40, last Wednesday.

Despite being outrebounded by Ateneo, UP banked on its free throws, shooting 18 out of 21 compared to Ateneo’s 12 out of 20 to notch its first win in the season with a 1-4 win-loss card. Both teams collected 24 turnovers in the match.

Holding a 4-0 card, the NU Lady Bulldogs went on a 12-day hiatus after trouncing the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Archers, 72-59, last September 18.

“On Saturday, we’re playing NU so I told the players that every time we face an opponent, it’s always 5050. Even if they’re the champion team, it’s still 50-50. It is up to us if we’ll give them our fair chance,” said UP head coach Kenneth Raval.

“I’ve been telling them, there has to be an attack mentality for UP because as long as we’re not attacking, nothing will happen,” Raval added.

The University of Santo Tomas Grow ling Tigresses will also battle the Far Eastern University Lady Ta ma raw sat 10:00 a.m. with both teams having 1-3 slate.

Meanwhile, the University of the East Lady Warriors (4-2) will go against the Adamson University Lady Falcons (2-3) at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday at the same venue.

The Ateneo Lady Eagles (2-4) will try to bounce back from their loss against UP as they face their arch rivals La Salle Lady Archers (5-1) who edged past the UE Lady Warriors, 74-72, last Wednesday.

“There’s no other motivation needed if we’re playing against Ateneo. You always want to win against your rivals but we’ll take it as the game goes. We’re still going to do the same thing, the same system. It’s just a matter of having a higher intensity than them, to compete on every possession,” said La Salle head coach Cholo Villanueva.