Lady Bulldogs go 5-0, but a different number has their attention
The number that caught the attention of the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs was not five—which represents the number of consecutive games the team has won to start the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament.
It was 24.
“We’re happy [with our record] but we are still not yet satisfied, especially since we are still committing a lot of errors,” Angel Surada said in Filipino after leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 74-52 victory over Adamson on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fortunately, those NU turnovers resulted in just 10 Adamson points, while the Lady Bulldogs translated the Lady Falcons 25 steals (15 forced by NU steals) into 28 points.
But the NU coaching staff isn’t waiting for opponents to clean up their act to stay within fighting distance of the Lady Bulldogs and try stealing the game in the end.
They want to polish their game ahead of everybody else.
“There will be lapses in any game. The challenge is how we will minimize those lapses and that’s what we are trying to do,” Aris Dimaunahan, who has called the shots for the Bulldogs since 2022, said.
“Like what coach said, (when we go) deep in the playoffs we need to have better decision-making and have less errors,” Surada said.
The Gilas Pilipinas pool member played a big role in NU’s win, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists laced with four steals and a block. Princess Fabruada finished with 12 points while Tin Cayabyab ended up with 11 points, including two big triples to start the payoff frame to pad National U’s lead, 56-35.
The Lady Falcons were only down six at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs began applying the pressure in the third, with Fabruada spearheading a 17-8 third quarter that gave NU a 15-point lead.
Cayabyab and Gypsy Canuto then combined for 12 points in the final quarter to put the game away as the Lady Bulldgos survived a struggling performance by another national pool standout, Camille Clarin.
Clarin was scoreless and missed all her five attempts from the field while committing four turnovers, but she made up for that with nine assists, six rebounds and two steals.
“Whoever is feeling hot, that’s who we are feeding. That’s the good thing about the NU team: there are no superstars so if you are off, you can still contribute in defense and other aspects,” Surada added.
“What we want is to win and not just up each other in scoring,” Cayabyab said. “For me, if there is an opportunity, my mindset is just to step up because if there will be no one to step up, it will be difficult for us to pull away from the opponent.”
Still, NU won’t rest on its unbeaten run.
“Part of a coach’s dream is to see your team play the entire game well. The game will not be perfect, never will be,” Dimaunahan said. “But for us (coaches), we want to see a level of consistency. And we are looking for that every single game.
“We are addressing that during practice because we need that consistency, especially when we are already deep in the playoffs. So we’re using every game as a chance for us to improve so hopefully we find a way to fix that.”
NU plays University of the East on Saturday. The Lady Warriors are the worst in the league in turnovers, averaging nearly 30 a game.
