The De La Salle University Lady Archers have lost their first UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball Tournament game of the season, falling to a 59-72 loss at the hands of defending champions National University Lady Bulldogs.
It was a tough loss for the Lady Archers as they led 37-35 at halftime, only for them to succumb to the Lady Bulldogs in the second half.
La Salle made an 11-0 run to lead 59-55 early in the fourth quarter. That should have been the game’s turning point, but NU made a 17-0 run for themselves and the Lady Bulldogs ended as victors after forty minutes.
“We weren’t able to execute down the stretch. We lost our mental focus. We weren’t making the right decisions towards the end.
“A champion team like NU would capitalize on it. That’s why we lost the game,” lamented Lady Archers mentor Cholo Villanueva.
“That’s why they’re the champion team. Down the stretch they have the right mentality to win the game. They had a run that won the game for them. We need to learn from and hopefully improve in our next games.”
Villanueva felt his players had executed their strategy well in the first half and were focused on both ends of the floor. In spite of the loss, the second-year coach said that La Salle can declare they can compete with NU this season.
“It’s a small step for us improving from last year. Our first game last year we lost by 24 or 21 points, but this year we led them at halftime.
“The problem is we relaxed second half and we lost our focus. It’s an improvement, a small step but it’s still not enough,” reflected the sophomore coach.
It was just the Lady Archers’ third match for this season, and Villanueva is hopeful that the team will improve over their next few games. La Salle’s next game will be against the University of Santo Tomas, and Villanueva knew exactly where he wanted his team to do better.
“For the next game, of course our mental focus. We need to be on point for 40 minutes, also lessen our turnovers and proper execution on our halfcourt,” he concluded.
