Fresh from their UAAP stint, the UST Growling Tigresses now set their sights on the inaugural season of the Women's Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (WMPBL) Invitational Tournament, set to commence on Sunday, Jan. 19, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
The España-based squad immediately returned to training after the Christmas break in preparation for new and familiar collegiate foes.
“Since noong bumalik kami ng January 6, [we trained] mostly ‘yong pang-off season na developmental sa skills like habit building. Tapos eventually, nagtra-transition rin naman kami sa team play,” assistant coach Ged Austria told TomasinoWeb.
Austria said the Tigresses’ experience and familiarity with each other on court can be a major boost coming into the tournament.
“For this season, siyempre, excited kami. In-expect pa rin namin na magagaling, malalakas [‘yong other teams]. Although may advantage nga kami na mas matagal kaming magkakasama. [Pero] ang advantage ng kalaban, iba pa rin experience ng mga veteran,” he said.
Austria and the staff reminded the squad to take this off-season tilt as a rare opportunity to grow as a team.
The 14 teams participating in the WMPBL will be split into two brackets.
UST is in Bracket A and will compete against teams from Bracket B in a single-round robin.
The top four teams of each bracket will advance to the quarterfinals with similar seedings to the Final Four format.
This will also be an opportunity for the Growling Tigresses to debut a new foreign student athlete from Nigeria, adding size to the frontcourt.
The full team rosters and game schedules will be posted in the WMPBL's social media pages in the coming days.
UST’s opening game on Sunday will be against Bracket B’s Discovery Perlas at 2 p.m.
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