The De La Salle University Lady Archers displayed its defensive prowess once again as it disposed handily the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses, 72-45 to bag their 8th win in 11 games in the on-going UAAP Season 76 women’s basketball competitions in the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Saturday.
The Lady Archers’ victory gave them a much needed breathing room at 3rd place in the standings as it gave La Salle a two-game separation over UST, which is now 6-5 in the standings and currently at solo 4th place. Furthermore, this gives La Salle a step in pace to bag that #2 slot for a twice to beat advantage in the Final Four with idle NU, which is at 8-2 in the standings.
The Lady Archers were just in deadly form from the get-go as UST never tasted the lead in the game. The closest that the Tigresses could sight the Lady Archers was at 10-9 with 2:28 remaining in the 1st quarter. From there La Salle uncorked a 6-0 run courtesy of Camille Ramos, Jonah Melendres, and Cass Santos to bring La Salle up, 16-9 with 1:00 to go in the opening period. Melendres paced La Salle with 6 points in the 1st quarter.
In the second quarter, turnovers just kept on piling up for the Tigresses as the Lady Archers took advantage scoring on easy baskets with man-to-man full court pressure defense, enabling La Salle to score 9 turnover points in the quarter on UST’s 12 turnovers. Ara Abaca’s cross court steal and the lay up finish gave the Lady Archers a 28-12 lead midway in the 2nd period. The Lady Archers cruised to a comfortable 39-22 lead at the half.
UST’s misery continued in the 3rd canto as they shot themselves on the foot, throwing up one hurried shot after another, crediting La Salle’s full court pressure defense. UST may have just committed 5 turnovers but they shot very poorly from the field, connecting only on 3/18 from the field comparing to La Salle’s 7/11 shooting clip from the field. It was a balanced scoring quarter for the Lady Archers with Abaca, Piatos, and Corcuera combining for La Salle’s 10 of 19 points in the quarter. The Lady Archers padded their lead to 30, 58-28 with 1:11 left in the quarter via a Jonah Melendres split from the charity line.
The final period was just a cruise control quarter for Coach Tyrone Bautista’s wards but Chai Vergara had other plans, scoring 6 straight points in a span of a minute to double literally the Lady Archers’ score over the Tigresses at 70-35 with 4:07 left in regulation play. Once again, it was La Salle’s turnover points category that has brought them to the victory, finishing the game with 23 turnover points compared to just 12 for UST. In line with that, the Lady Archers had more fast break points, 18-11 over the Tigresses.
La Salle finished the game with more turnovers though, 30-27 but the Lady Archers were just one to two steps quicker than the Tigresses that UST was not able to take advantage of La Salle’s mistakes offensively. The bulk of La Salle turnovers happened in the final period when the game was already settled and definitely in the bag for the Lady Archers.
The Lady Archers’ next assignment is on Sunday, September 8, 2013 against the UP Fighting Lady Maroons (5-7, 5th in the standings), who absorbed a 52-46 defeat over the Adamson Soaring Lady Falcons (4-6, 6th in the standings) in the game before the DLSU-UST tussle.
Box Scores:
DLSU 72 – Piatos 14, Abaca 13, M. Ong 10, Melendres 7, Vergara 6, Santos 5, Ramos 4, Garcia 3, Corcuera 3, Scott 2, A. Ong 2, Claro 2, Revillosa 1, Pineda 0, Oyao 0.
UST 45 – Rivera 14, Cortes 11, Ong 6, Felisarta 4, Reyes 3, Mejia 3, Salvador 2, Brillante 2, Penaflor 0, Mandilag 0, Magdaluyo 0, Angeles 0, Andrade 0.
Quarter Scores: 18-11, 39-22, 58-31, 72-45
In Junior’s Basketball last Friday, DLSZ maintains it’s hold on third place with a 60-47 conquest over UP. Junior Archers improve to 7-4.
Box Scores:
DLSZ 60 – Banzon 15, Subido 13, Maldinger 11, Sajulga 8, Cabarrus 8, Romero 2, Isaac 2, Melecio 1, Vizmonte 0, Quintos 0, Perez 0, Paraiso 0, Castro 0.
UE 47 – Briones 7, Antonio 7, Mohamad 6, Marata 6, Caduyac 6, Altamirano 6, Ceralde 5, Del Rosario 3, Garcia 1, Contorno 0.
Quarter scoring: 9-4, 27-21, 44-39, 60-47.