Lady Eagles declawed by Lady Tams

Coming from a loss, the Ateneo de Manila Lady Eagles weren’t able to redeem themselves as the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws proved to be insurmountable, 32-53, Wednesday afternoon at the Blue Eagle Gym.

The Lady Eagles established a good opening quarter with combined efforts from the squad’s starting five: Sarah Mercado, Danica Jose, Sara Bo-ot, Samantha Ong and Denise Tiu. This allowed the Ateneo to trail not far behind FEU, 12-8.

In the second quarter, the Lady Tamaraws’ unyielding defense has left the Lady Eagles scoreless, until a crucial 3-point basket from Ong at 5:22 in the quarter, which was shortly followed by baskets from Mercado and Valerie Chua. This gave the Lady Eagles momentum and their full court press forced FEU to take reckless outside shots and commit turnovers. However, after an FEU timeout, the Lady Tamaraws got back on their feet and FEU’s Raiza Palmera hit a three-point basket that put them in a comfortable lead, 26-16.

Coming from the dug-out, the Lady Eagles continued to struggle and failed to convert easy lay-ups. Even Ateneo’s coaching staff couldn’t suppress their disappointment, which resulted in a technical foul against Ateneo and consequently two converted charities for FEU.

Ateneo’s rookie center, Jose hit the first basket for the Lady Eagles after 4 minutes of scoring drought. FEU committed several fouls but Mercado’s 5 out of 14 shooting from the free-throw line throughout the game disabled Ateneo from igniting a strong comeback. Jose hit a basket and was fouled but failed to convert the bonus free throw, which is also evident of how the Lady Eagles struggled from the free-throw line.  At the end of third quarter, FEU was still up, 34-27.

In the last quarter, fatigue and frustration plagued the Lady Eagles while the Lady Tamaraws converted baskets left and right. Even the combined defensive effort of Tiu and Jose was not enough to put a stop to FEU. Nothing seemed to work for Ateneo, as they only scored five points in the last quarter against FEU’s 19 points. In the dying seconds of the game, Bo-ot hit a three-point shot that was merely a far cry from winning this game.

The Lady Eagles will attempt to end this losing streak as they face the DLSU Lady Archers on Sunday, August 7, 3pm at the Blue Eagle Gym.

STATS OF THE GAME

BOX SCORES

ATENEO: Mercado 7, Jose 6, Chua 6, Dimaano 4, Bo-ot 3, Ong 3, Tiu 2, Estrada 1, Aseron 0, Tantoco 0, Castro 0.

FEU: Lim 18, Palmera 15, Sambile 11, Soriano 4, Columna 2, Yazon 2, Valenzona 1, Rosaldo 0, Tiu 0, Supnet 0, Regidor 0, Borja 0, Albano 0.

Written by: Julienne Manalang