The University of the Philippines (UP) Women’s Basketball team (WBT) is off to a flawless 2-0 start in its Season 88 campaign. But the hustle is far from over.
Maintaining their perfect record wasn’t an easy feat as they traded narrow leads with the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors from start to finish before the clock expired at a 74-74 deadlock, forcing an extended play.
Rookie Shane Cunanan came out swinging in the extra period to secure their second win of the season against the red shirts on Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Fighting Maroons’ hard-fought 84-75 victory extends their streak against the Lady Warriors to seven, dating back to Round 1 of Season 85.
UP managed to maintain a slim lead throughout the first half, 39-33, capitalizing on UE’s fouls and converting 25 points from the free-throw line.
However, the Recto-based squad stole the spotlight in the second half with consecutive baskets from Rachel Lacayanga and Moana Vacalares, who scored 13 points combined in the third quarter alone, pushing the score to 47-55.
In the supposedly final frame, UP fought back with Camille Nolasco’s back-to-back trifectas, reclaiming the lead, 58-57. Despite their efforts, a buzzer-beater from Lady Warrior Ivy Yañez tied the game at 74-all to send the game to overtime.
Coming off a solid seven-point performance against Adamson, Cunanan was fielded as a starter and saw 30 minutes and 49 seconds of action on the floor.
“I’m so very grateful and happy po kasi hindi naman po lahat tayo nabibigyan ng ganung opportunity… Kapag may mga teammates ako na, for example, nada-down or nafru-frustrate, iniisip ko lang palagi na I have to step up for them,” the forward from Quezon City said.
Only in her second game, the Maroon newcomer recorded a double-double with 15 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. She became the hero in the extension, contributing eight of UP’s 10 points, while UE was only able to score a point.
Ever-reliable sophomore Camille Nolasco also scored her career-high of 21 points in the win while Louna Ozar chipped in 14.
Despite the win, Nolasco acknowledged the team’s lapses and emphasized the need to improve moving forward.
“[A]s much as possible, we didn’t want the game to be close pero that’s how the game ended po. Pero we’re just happy nga po na we were able to take the win and moving forward lang po kami sa mga next games namin,” said the Gilas Pilipinas player.
Coach Paul Ramos echoed the sentiment, stressing the importance of learning from mistakes as the WBT prepares for the tough challenge ahead against defending champions National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs.
“NU is a big challenge, definitely. […] So, hopefully we can just get some positives out of it and then we work on our lapses during our game,” Santos said.
UP WBT will seek to extend its unbeaten record as it goes up against NU on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Pavilion.
