After a strong string of matches, the Ateneo de Manila University were left shocked after a straight-set loss to neighbors University of the Philippines Lady Maroons.
The Lady Eagles were far from the form that won them five straight matches. They were disjointed, their usual crisp late-game execution absent against the fiery Lady Maroons.
Ateneo co-captains Maddie Madayag and Kat Tolentino confirmed that the Lady Eagles played way out of character.
“It’s like the basic errors na nangyari, parang, ‘yun nga, no one was talking,” pointed out Madayag, who scored seven points against UP. “Then, like I said before, we need to work on our consistency kasi hahabol kami and then biglang may service error.
“Kailangan lang talaga ng consistency and aggressiveness.”
“UP really wanted to win, you could see it in how they played,” admitted Tolentino, who topped the Lady Eagles with 15 points.
“We were just a bit too complacent than we needed to be. It’s a learning experience for the team.”
The loss severely set the Lady Eagles back from a twice-to-beat Final Four incentive. Still, last season’s runners-up are keeping a positive outlook.
“We’re not out of the Final Four, we’re still in the semis so there really is no reason for us to panic,” added Tolentino.
“We’re hoping for playoffs so we’re gonna work on it sa training and it’s a learning experience na ang dami naming errors and everything,” closed Madayag.
