‘Overachieving’ Lady Falcons eye better finish next UAAP season

MANILA, Philippines — After seeing their Cinderella run come to an end, the Adamson Lady Falcons are bent on surpassing what they reached this UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament for years to come.

Adamson pushed the defending champions University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses to the limit in their stepladder semifinal clash on Wednesday before running out of steam, 71-59.

This win came after knocking off the Kacey dela Rosa-led Ateneo Blue Eagles on Saturday, 59-53.

The Lady Falcons did all these while being one of the smallest squads in the season, banking on their “Big E” — effort. 

And this year marked their first Final Four appearance since Season 82 

After being eliminated by UST, Adamson head coach Ryan Monteclaro stressed that the challenge, now, is to “sustain what we've achieved this year.”

“You don't want to be a one-day wonder, or one-season wonder team. We've achieved a lot. They said we already surpassed a lot of things. But then again, I think it's more of making it consistent,” he told reporters.

“Making sure na by the start of this season and the next coming seasons, we'll be able to contend every single year in the Final Four, and hopefully as a championship-caliber team,” he added.

The team will have an intact core for next season, with only May Trabado graduating from the current squad. 

Elaine Etang and Victoria Adeshina powered Adamson this season. The former averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game, while the latter had 10.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals a contest. 

Cheska Apag also came up big in more of a bench role with averages of 8.2 markers, 4.6 boards, 2.4 steals and 2.0 assists a game. 

The Falcons finished with a 9-5 win-loss record in the eliminations, finishing third in the season. However, they had to go through the stepladder route in the Final Four. 

“It's still a successful season. I read an article, it was actually my personal challenge to myself, wherein we were tagged as challengers. And that hierarchy is divided into three. The title seekers, the contenders, and the challengers. This is what I'm always telling them. And looking back two months, three months ago, there's no Adamson in that place,” Monteclaro said. 

“It's either UP, La Salle and other teams. I think we successfully surprised everyone, not just ourselves. A lot of people in our community. Next year, we're going to try to replicate and surpass it. That's how it goes,” he added. 

“If you put a barrier, if you want to get better, you always put something to break every single year. Something to achieve every single year. And hopefully, next year, from [number] six, sabi ko nga sa dugout, six to three, what's next? Sa inyo na yun. I’m not gonna say anything. Hopefully, ganun ang maging trend.” 

For her part, Adeshina said that she and the rest of the team are eager to improve individually and as a squad. 

“[We will] look back to our mistakes this year, then work on it and get more progress. For sure, we'll come back stronger next year [and] we always go to the Final Four,” Adeshina, who scored 12 points and eight rebounds against UST, stated. 

“This will not be the end of the Final Four for us. We'll keep going, keep improving until we get the championship,” she added. 

This was seconded by Etang, who also led the team with 12 markers, saying that they will “keep learning from mistakes.”