MANILA, Philippines – After UST handed NU a bitter end to its women’s basketball dynasty last year, the longtime dominant Lady Bulldogs and the defending champion Growling Tigresses interestingly switched roles this UAAP Season 87. For the Lady Bulldogs, the hunger for glory has never been this high following a tough loss in last year’s best-of-three finale . “The team has been really hungry to win it again,” said NU head coach Aries Dimaunahan in Filipino.
“We just have to move forward, and as competitors, we always want to bounce back from defeat.” “Hopefully, our focus will last the entire season, not like last year when we fell short at the very end,” he added. The Lady Bulldogs were the undisputed queens of UAAP hoops from 2014 to 2022 — at one point, even riding a 108-game winning streak — before the Growling Tigresses mustered the team that eventually toppled their dynasty last year.
Now in an unfamiliar territory after almost a decade of dominance, NU now faces the reality of another gritty challenge. “It feels like the tides have turned, right? That’s the beauty of competition. You never know, sometimes you’re on top, at the bottom, or in the middle.
That’s what keeps competitors on their toes,” Dimaunahan said. NU lost Stef Berberabe and Bianca Alcantara from its roster but kept most of its core players, including Gilas Pilipinas Women star Camille Clarin along with Karl Ann Pingol, Tin Cayabyab, Angel Surada, and Gambian big Jainaba .
