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Foreign players in UAAP women's tourney uplifts league: NU coach

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Levi Joshua Verora Jr.

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="UAAP Media Bureau" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/10/05/20231005-uaap-media-bureau.jpg"/><figcaption>FEU&#x27;s Josee Kaputu. <em>UAAP Media Bureau</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA -- For National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs head coach Aris Dimaunahan, the presence of foreign players in the UAAP women&#x27;s basketball competition is good for the league.</p><p>&quot;Kapag mayroon tayong mga foreign players, foreign athletes, maganda sa liga natin, kasi umaangat ang level of competition,&quot; Dimaunahan said after the seven-time champions scored a 95-58 victory over Far Eastern University (FEU) on Wednesday.</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s one way of uplifting the tournament, uplifting the league itself. Tumataas &#x27;yung competition natin.&quot;</p><p>Dimaunahan praised 6-foot-2 Lady Tamaraws big Josee Kaputu for making it difficult for the Lady Bulldogs despite the lopsided scoreline.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/04/23/lady-bulldogs-decimate-lady-tams-for-share-of-lead">UAAP: Lady Bulldogs decimate Lady Tams for share of lead</a></li></ul><p>Kaputu scored 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in the setback to NU, following up on her 27-point performance in FEU&#x27;s opening week win over De La Salle University (DLSU).</p><p>&quot;The only thing we failed on was containing their foreign player,&quot; Dimaunahan said of the Congolese native. &quot;It&#x27;s always nice to see those types of athletes playing in our league.&quot;</p><p>Although recruiting foreign players, usually centers, has been practiced by collegiate teams since the 2000s to shore up their respective frontlines, it was only until the late-2010s where squads from the UAAP women&#x27;s basketball competition kept up.</p><p>This season, all eight squads have foreign bigs: Kaputu for FEU, Jainaba Konateh for NU, Aji Bojang for La Salle, Sarah Makanjuola for Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), Favour Onoh for the University of the Philippines (UP), Kamba Kone for University of the East (UE), Victoria Adeshina for Adamson University (AdU), and Awa Ly for the University of Santo Tomas (UST).</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/04/23/ateneo-womens-coach-wants-more-maturity-from-blue-eagles">UAAP: Ateneo women&#x27;s coach wants more maturity from Blue Eagles</a></li></ul><p>For their part, the Lady Bulldogs previously won titles with Rhena Itesi and Annick Edimo Tiky taking care of the middle for them.</p><p>Dimaunahan went on to describe Kaputu as a different breed in terms of her offensive capabilities which made it difficult for NU to contain her, given her size.</p><p>&quot;She likes to play from the outside. &#x27;Yung jumper niya is almost automatic. That&#x27;s why I had a couple of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to stop her,&quot; Dimaunahan admitted.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ve seen earlier na &#x27;yung mga jumpers niya is really on point. Hopefully, the next time we play them, we can limit her.&quot; </p><p>The mentor gave credit to his players&#x27; collective effort defensively, which lifted NU to its second win early in the tournament.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/04/23/uaap-up-women-overwhelm-ue-for-2nd-straight-win">UAAP: UP women overwhelm UE for 2nd straight win</a></li></ul><p>&quot;We always believe that NU women&#x27;s basketball was and is all about defense. &#x27;Yun &#x27;yung bread and butter namin since Coach Pat (Aquino) pa,&quot; Dimaunahan said.</p><p>&quot;We did a great job defensively as a committee. Everybody played their hearts out and did the game plan. They embraced the game plan and applied it.&quot;</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yKrHnLFHxxc?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

'Kapag mayroon tayong mga foreign players, foreign athletes, maganda sa liga natin, kasi umaangat ang level of competition,' Dimaunahan said.