Lady Eagles fall to Lady Tams for the second time

It wasn’t a good start for the Ateneo de Manila Lady Eagles for the second round of eliminations in UAAP Season 74. The Lady Eagles once again fell to the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws, 49-67, on the afternoon of August 14 at the Blue Eagle Gym.

A coast to coast basket by Sara Bo-ot started off things for the Lady Eagles. It was followed by three straight three-point shots from Sarah Mercado, Sam Ong, and Bo-ot for an 8-point lead over the Lady Tams, 11-3. But FEU found their groove, ultimately catching up to the Lady Eagles, 19-18, after the first 10 minutes of play.

It was a dismal second quarter for Ateneo as their 8 points in the quarter came mostly from the freethrow line. Only Denise Tiu was able to sink a fieldgoal while FEU’s shots were easily going in. Two technical fouls on Ateneo’s head coach Chris Quimpo didn’t make things easier for the Lady Eagles. Coach Quimpo was requested to go out of the playing court after incurring the second technical foul. Ateneo was down by 18 at the half, 27-45.

Assistant Coach Jon Jacinto and the rest of the coaching staff of the Lady Eagles tried to cut down on the lead of the Lady Tams in the second half but it seemed like the basket shrunk in size. The Lady Eagles had trouble getting baskets, even the easy ones. The lead of FEU ballooned to a game-high 23 points in the third quarter. The quarter ended at 35-57 for the Lady Tams.

Danica Jose opened the final quarter with a basket off an Ong assist. Mercado followed it up by splitting her charities to bring the lead down to 19. The closest that the Lady Eagles got was to cut down the lead to 15, 49-64, via a Jennifer Dimaano freethrow. Ultimately, the Lady Eagles succumbed to the Lady Tamaraws, 49-67.

The Lady Eagles will go up against the University of the East Amazons next on August 21, 10 am at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

SCORES:
ATENEO (49): Ong 11, Chua 8, Jose 7, Bo-ot 7, Tiu 7, Mercado 4, Estrada 3, Dimaano 2, Aseron 0, Tantoco 0, Castro 0, Torre 0, Morales 0, Javier 0

FEU (67): Palmera 27, Lim 12, Borja 9, Sambile 6, Columna 4, Supnet 4, Siat 3, Soriano 2, Valezona 0, Rosaldo 0, Baldonado 0, Gabriel 0, Tiu 0, Albano 0