Straight from Far Eastern University’s 57-51 victory over the University of the East, Lady Tamaraws head coach Raiza Palmera-Dy immediately shifted her focus to their next opponent, De La Salle University.
In particular, they’re looking at one player: Luisa San Juan.
The former national team player hasn’t forgotten San Juan’s performance against the Lady Tamaraws on September 25. There, the 22-year-old shooting guard scored 34 points with 10 triples, setting a new record in the women’s division.
“Of course, kailangan namin revenge talaga yung nangyari, especially since we all know that against us in the first round, nagkaroon ng record si San Juan. We need to address that,” said Palmera-Dy after FEU secured its third win in the UAAP Season 87 Collegiate Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
“At the same time, kailangan yung mga this type of scenarios, binibigyan namin sila during practices on how to handle these scenarios. Good thing and we’re lucky enough na na-pull-off namin tong panalo na to.”
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
The Lady Tamaraws still have a slim chance to enter the Final Four, but Palmera-Dy did not dwell on that; instead, she expressed her annoyance with her team’s failure to take care of the ball, which allowed the Lady Warriors to keep the game close until the end.
As La Salle implements a full-court press to force turnovers and score points off them, FEU knows they will be tested again in this regard on Wednesday at 10:00 AM at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“To be honest, grateful kami na nanalo kami, pero I’m not happy with the performance of our team because, as you can see, in this game we made 31 turnovers – our most of the season,” she said.
She went on, “You can see (UE) maximized our turnovers and got 27 points. But again, a win is a win. We will move on to our next game against La Salle. We have to address our turnovers.”
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
As a two-time UAAP champion during her playing days as a Lady Tamaraw, Palmera-Dy wants to see more effort and calmness from her successors on the court.
With the season winding down, every moment from this point until FEU’s last game will be an opportunity to build toward next year.
“Actually, sabi ko naman sa kanila. Kahit during practices, alam nila yan. Whoever is willing to fight for the team, yun ang gagamitin natin at yun yung maglalaro. Itong mga crucial moments na to, ito yung mga kailangan namin na may mag step-up talaga,” she said.
“MJ (Manguiat) got 22 points. Di naman ako na-shock na kaya niyang gawin ito, but again, yung composure nila yung nagdala dito sa game na to.”
