UST Growling Tigresses star Kent Pastrana. Photo from UAAP Media.MANILA —The University of Santo Tomas (UST) will battle National University anew, this time to defend its UAAP women’s basketball crown.
The Growling Tigresses took care of business against Adamson University through a 71-59 victory in their Season 87 Final 4 stepladder fight on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena, and this gives UST a shot to extend their glory in the UAAP.
“For them, it's redemption season,” said UST head coach Haydee Ong after the game, referring to their opponents whom they defeated in the Season 86 Finals to end the Lady Bulldogs’ seven-peat rule.
“Sa amin naman, we want to repeat for this season, to have the back-to-back,” she continued.
In their title defense in Season 87, the Growling Tigresses finished at No.2 in the team standings with a 12-2 record, with those two losses both coming from National U.
Meanwhile, the Lady Bulldogs rediscovered their footing this year and went on to run past all of their opponents for a perfect 14-0 campaign so far.
That is why according to Ong, the España-based squad is the underdog in this Best-of-3 series despite being the defending champions, especially since they are going up against the revenge-seeking Lady Bulldogs who are eager to start another dynasty.
“Sabi ko nga last season, seven-peat na sila eh, kami isa pa lang eh,” pointed out Coach Haydee. “So talagang for us, we’re the underdog. Sila yung llamado, kami yung dehado.”
How can they overcome this? Ong put an emphasis on cleaning up their errors which was one of the factors that helped Adamson storm back from a 21-4 deficit in their Final 4 faceoff.
“Siguro, improve lang namin yung sarili namin,” she said of her team which committed 28 turnovers against AdU, almost five more than their 23.6 average. “Importante yung in-game adjustments talaga during mga Final 4, especially ngayon, mag cha-championship kami.”
“We need more work talaga. We have to work harder, together for NU. Yung mga dapat ayusin this game, sa errors namin, basically, doon kami mag co-concentrate,” she added.
In addition, fortunately for Ong, she has, at her expense, one of the best talents in women’s basketball right now: UST star Kent Pastrana.
“Hulog ng Diyos. Matagal uli na magkakaroon ng ganitong player sa UAAP, like Kacey dela Rosa, yung mga ganyang athlete,” said Ong of Pastrana, who was the Season 87 Most Valuable Player runner-up to the Ateneo de Manila University star.
In the elims, Pastrana scattered 15.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.2 steals, and this, said Ong, is a testament to the amount of talent that she has brought to her program.
“Hulog ng Diyos talaga. Actually, lahat naman ng players ko hulog ng Diyos every time nagre-recruit ako, talagang I’m just blessed na pinili nila yung UST.
For Kent, it is now just about silencing their doubters once more much like what they did last year.
“Kailangan lang namin i-prove yung sarili namin,” said the Season 87 Mythical Five member.
“Kailangang i-prove namin yung sarili namin sa supporters namin kung ano yung nagawa namin last season. Gagawin lang namin kung anong dapat namin gawin,” she added.
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