Lady Eagles drop game against UST

The Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles drew first blood in their game against the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses. But that would be the first and last time they would lead in the game.

The Lady Eagles fell to the Espana-based Tigresses, 51-64, Sunday afternoon at the Blue Eagle Gym.

Homecourt advantage was negligible as the Lady Eagles were helpless in the attacks set up by the Tigresses. Only Team Captain Sarah Mercado and Valerie Chua were able to score in the first quarter for the Lady Eagles. At the end of the first 10 minutes of play, Ateneo was down by 15, 6-21.

Hope sprung anew when the Lady Eagles had a 7-0 run at the start of the second quarter to bring the lead down to a single digit. But the Tigresses answered with an 8-0 run of their own. Samantha Ong hit a big three to stop the UST run. Allysa Dogong also sank trey but at the end of the first half, UST was still on top, 21-33.

The attacks of the Tigresses saw no slowing down in the third quarter. The Lady Eagles were only able to score 11 points in the third canto compared to 21 of UST. It was quite an off day for starting center Danica Jose who wasn’t able to score in the game. The rest of the Lady Eagles were also unable to find baskets as they were down by 22 at the end of the third, 32-54.

Despite scoring more than UST in the final quarter and scoring the last 5 points, the Ateneo Lady Eagles weren’t able to recover from the attacks of the Tigresses. Ong topscored for the Lady Eagles with 13. She’s also the only one who finished in double digits. Chua and Mercado added 9 and 7 respectively.

The Lady Eagles now have a 1-1 win-loss record. They will try to recover from this loss when they face the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons on July 24, 3 pm, at the Blue Eagle Gym.

SCORES: Ong 13, Chua 9, Mercado 7, Dogong 5, Dimaano 5, Aseron 4, Bo-ot 4, Tiu 3, Estrada 1, Tantoco 0, Jose 0, Castro 0, Torre 0, Morales 0