National University has been so dominant in the UAAP women’s basketball landscape that a single-digit win for them already feels like a victory in itself for the opposition.
Indeed, the Lady Bulldogs faced an early test in the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Basketball Tournament as they needed to dig deep to seal a narrow 78-75 victory over the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses.
“I think this is the first time this season a team has out-rebounded us. I thought that was a factor for us na maging close ang laban nila sa amin,” said NU coach Aris Dimaunahan. “That is one thing that we have to address to the team and also we missed a lot of free throws. We won by three (points) and we missed 13 free throws. If mas marami kaming na-shoot na free throws, baka hindi na makadikit ang kalaban.
“Those things are kailangan namin i-improve from this point on. At the end of the day, it’s a win for us. I congratulate the entire team for grinding it out today and finally getting our 99th win.”
Before this game, the last four meetings between NU and UST were all single-digit wins by the former. Each time the Tigresses looked capable of upsetting the Lady Bulldogs, the latter always found a way to pull through in the end.
These close calls refine teams to perform better in the endgame. If before the likes of Rhena Itesi, Jack Animam, Ria Nabalan, and Monique Del Carmen powered NU, things are different now considering there are seven rookies and four sophomores who compose the 16-man lineup.
“This was similar to one of the games we had against UST last (season) in Ynares. It was also a less than five points win. I think it’s definitely an eye-opener for us. At least we got it really early in the season,” said Camille Clarin who scored 13 points for NU today.
“Having blowout games all the time doesn’t really help you grow as a team. We definitely needed this to get better and to see where our weaknesses are so we can come back stronger.
“It will help us a lot. We didn’t have the luxury of playing in summer leagues so we hadn’t seen any of the teams. We only played against teams from Taiwan which gave us battles. We lost most of the time against them,” the Gilas stalwart continued.
What goes up must ultimately come down. There will be a day when NU will inevitably lose a ball game. The pressure to get win after win will ultimately take its toll on the Lady Bulldogs.
For now, though, they will do everything to protect and extend that streak. As the saying goes – it is all about taking it one game at a time.
“Even though we’re NU, we’re still on top, we’re still undefeated – it doesn’t mean that we can’t stop growing and we can’t get better,” said Clarin. “My advice to them was just to execute and follow what the coaches were saying. Individually, there were certain things I was saying to certain people to pick them up. But overall the statement was we still have the lead.
“The game is still ours. They’re still gunning for us but as a team we have to come together and hold that lead. We have to hold the foundation down so we stay together and they’re the ones falling apart.”
After everything is said and done, the specter of NU’s 100th consecutive win draws near. It has been the longest winning streak in collegiate basketball and it does not look like it will run out of steam anytime soon.
The University of the Philippines is up next for the Lady Bulldogs and they will look to work for that game just like they would for any other fixture.
“We’re gonna prepare for that game obviously and they’re coming from a two-game winning streak. Mag-pe-prepare kami dun. We cannot overlook any teams here in the UAAP. It’s just a matter of us and how we’ll prepare for that next game,” said Dimaunahan.
“You have to respect the game and we have to respect the opponents kung sinoman kalaban. We’re gonna prepare for our next game and let’s see what happens.”
