The Ateneo Lady Eagles breezed through the National University Lady Bulldogs, 50-35 at the PhilSports Arena on July 25 to notch up their second win in three games.

Despite the Lady Bulldogs’ height advantage, the Lady Eagles dominated the game right from the opening tip as their tight defense prevented NU from converting a single basket. The first quarter ended 16-2 with NU’s points coming from the free throw line, and Ateneo’s on drives and transition plays.

The next quarter saw the Lady Bulldogs inch closer as they started to be more aggressive on offense after guard Theresa Palma’s trey early in the second canto.

Ateneo, however, capitalized on the Lady Bulldogs’ early penalty situation in the third quarter to remain in the lead, and eventually close out the game by scoring 26 points out of their 42 total free throw attempts.

Captain Treena Limgenco and forward Sarah Mercado paced the team with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Despite the win, Mercado admits that the team needs to improve on their defense and to minimize their unforced turnovers.

She says , “Sa totoo lang hindi masaya yung coaching staff sa performance namin kasi nung third quarter parang naging complacent kami. Nagrelax kami on defense kasi inisip daw namin na up naman kami (Honestly, the coaching staff is not happy with our performance. They said that in the third quarter we became complacent and relaxed because we thought, we were leading anyway).”

Mercado adds, “Against other teams hindi namin pwedeng gawin yun (we can’t do that) especially against Adamson, and FEU [which is our] next game.”

The Lady Eagles will go against defending champions Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws on Wednesday, July 29, 12:30pm at the FEU Gym.