Lindsay Stalzer was nearly inconsolable last Saturday as she stood with her head down right in front of her locker at the SM Mall of Asia Arena dugout.
After years of triumph, Stalzer got her first taste of defeat in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix Finals, failing to lead Petron to the 2017 Chooks-to-Go Grand Prix title against the F2 Logitics Cargo Movers.
Usually a consistent offensive force, the 33-year-old American winger had just nine points in the deciding Game Three.
Stalzer, quite simply, ran out of gas.
Before the deciding Game Three, Stalzer and the Blaze Spikers had the championship in sight, holding a 9-0 lead in what could have been the title-clinching fourth frame. What followed was a historic collapse that Petron never shrugged off, costing them the title in Game Three.
“I gave everything I had in Game Two.
“I thought we had the title then. We couldn’t get the title then,” Stalzer, who scored 24 points in Game Two, told Tiebreaker Times.
“It sucks, but I felt like I had nothing left today (Game Three). I tried my best, but nothing worked,” she continued, adding the F2 Logistics’ defense did have an affect on her.
Still, Stalzer is hopeful she can come back for a fifth Grand Prix stint in February. With a bitter aftertaste to 2017, the globe-trotting import wants redemption come 2018.
“That’s the plan.”
