Lady Bulldogs underscore 'one-game-at-a-time' mindset amid talks of sweep

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite being two games away from a season sweep, the National University Lady Bulldogs are “living in the moment” and staying in the present.

NU defeated the Adamson Lady Falcons, 72-53, on Sunday to go up 12-0 in the season.

The Lady Bulldogs are two contests away from a season sweep and forcing a stepladder semifinals.

After the game, NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan stressed the importance of not looking too far ahead of what’s at hand – their 13th contest against the La Salle Lady Archers on Wednesday.

“Maybe just by staying at the present to whatever’s in front of us. For now, it’s La Salle. Again, I always tell them, we don’t look too far ahead of us. We take it a day at a time,” Dimaunahan said.

“This game is done and over with, we have 24 hours again to cherish this win but tomorrow we start again, focusing on La Salle naman,” he added.

This was also underscored by Karl Ann Pingol, who paced NU against Adamson with 12 points.

“It’s a matter of mindset kasi and living in the moment, ika nga ni CC [Clarin], 'live in the moment'. Kung ano yung next game namin, doon kami magfo-focus muna,” she said.

“Hindi muna kami magja-jump sa Final Four or finals, whatsoever. Basta kung ano yung next game namin, yun muna ang tatrabahuin namin.”

Rookie Marga Villanueva finished with 10 points in 16 minutes of play for NU, while Gypsy Canuto and Angel Surada added nine apiece.

Cheska Apag led Adamson with 18 points and four rebounds, but was the lone bright spot for the Lady Falcons.

Dimaunahan added that while they are undefeated thus far, improvement is still a must, especially with the squad committing 24 turnovers, the same amount of assists.

“We really need to have our guys staying on point, staying disciplined on sa system namin so we could further improve our game and give ourselves good chances of winning games moving forward,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the second game of the day, La Salle fended off a rally by the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 69-62.

Four Lady Archers scored in double figures, led by Luisa San Juan’s 18. Lee Sario, Kyla Sunga and Patricia Mendoza had 15, 14 and 11 respectively.

Achryssa Maw powered UP with 25 points and seven rebounds for the also-ran UP. Kaye Pesquera added 14.

La Salle rose to 4-8, while the Fighting Maroons slipped to 3-9.