Since the start of the season, UST head coach Haydee Ong hasn’t been a fan of calling her team defending champions. Instead, she wants her team to be known for its ability to defend.
Ahead of the Growling Tigresses’ winner-take-all Game 3 clash against the top-ranked NU Lady Bulldogs, Ong again made the call for the Tigresses to beef up their defense.
The Growling Tigresses captured a 78-68 victory over the Lady Bulldogs in Game 2, and heading into Game 3, Ong emphasized — one last time this season — that defense will decide their fate.
“‘Yon ‘yong sinasabi ko parati, we take pride on our defense,” Ong said postggame. “And sa Game 3 pagbubutihan pa namin to have NU to have more turnovers and for us to have turnover points. So, ‘yon talaga ang gusto namin mangyari.”
On Wednesday, the Tigresses forced 23 turnovers from NU, scoring 18 points off them.
Behind this solid defensive effort were UST’s 17 steals, five of which came in the final six minutes. This, combined with timely shots from Karylle Sierba and Nicole Danganan, helped prevent NU from fully gaining momentum as it pulled within five with 3:07 remaining after a Camille Clarin triple.
“Hindi tumigil ‘yong mga bata; naniwala sila. Sabi namin, same scenario, what happened in the first game. Sabi namin walang bibitaw,” Ong said. “Just keep playing hard and ‘yon nga, thanks talaga sa buong team, nagtrabaho sila talaga.”
Despite NU’s towering presence in the paint, highlighted by the absence of a UST foreign student-athlete, the Tigresses managed to keep in step with the Lady Bulldogs inside. In Game 2, UST hauled in 41 rebounds against NU’s 46, a huge improvement from Game 1, where the defending champions were outrebounded 48-35.
“Even though we’re undersized, undermanned, no foreign student-athlete, pinakita ng mga bata na kaya namin,” Ong said.
For Ong, there will be no more underdogs in Game 3 — just the team that wants the title more.
“Last year kasi, we won the first game diba, tapos we lost the second, I think walang advantage or disadvantage na sa amin sa NU,” she said.
“We will just play harder para makuha namin ‘yong Game 3. Walang advantage — it’s all in our mindset na we’ll do our best para makuha uli namin yung do or die on Sunday.”
