Contributed by Louie Razon
DLSZ broke open a ruggedly fought Finals Game 1 and eventually overcame St. Jude Catholic School to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three WNCAA Finals, 73-55. The Junior Lady Archers jumped to a quick 7-0 lead early in the first quarter but St. Jude ground it out and eventually pulled even in the second quarter, 23 all. La Salle banked on a strong second quarter finish to pull ahead by 11 at the turn. Behind some superb 3-point shooting and some sloppy officiating, St. Jude stayed in the game and the third quarter ended with Zobel clinging to its 11-point lead, 50-39. But the game-long full court press and fatigue finally took its toll on St. Jude’s shallow bench. Exploiting numerous turnovers, DLSZ jacked up the lead to 23 points and benches were sent in with 2 minutes left in the game.
Junior point guard Kat Nuñez once again led the Junior Lady Archers with 19 points while dishing out 12 assists. Sophomore center Jamie backed her up with sixteen points and completely dominated the boards. Coach Barry Tobias’ pressing defense led to at least three 8-second backcourt violations to go with numerous travelling violations and wayward passes by St. Jude. That said, the final score does not really reflect the competitiveness of the game and Game 2, scheduled for 8 a.m. on October 1 at the St. Scholastica’s College gym, should be another exciting match.
There was a scary moment in the fourth quarter as junior forward Sam Razon fell hard after a flagrant foul. Though she presently suffers from a sore shoulder, Sam should be ready for Saturday’s game.
Photo courtesy of Bernard Morillo
Boxscores
DLSZ: Nuñez-19, Roxas-16, A. Razon-10, S. Razon-8, Caldo-8, Teo-6, Menchaca-4, Medina-2, Nonato-0.
SJCS: Go-35, Yu-14, Sabido-4, Arroyo-2, Tanking-0