As posted by bigfreeze bibby of ArcherPride.com
The DLSU Lady Archers suffered a very tough loss in their season 73 opener against the defending champions and their last season’s tormentors, the Adamson Lady Falcons. The Lady Falcons wasted no time in settling this one, winning via an 84-53 rout.
The first quarter already set the tone for the match as the taller, faster and heftier Lady Falcons were simply the more aggressive and dominating team on both ends of the floor, erupting for an early 11-2 lead courtesy of the towering Annalyn Almazan, who scored 8 points on a blistering pace in the opening quarter. Aside from Almazan, Ghin Buendia also scored 9 points backed by two triples to pace the Lady Falcons on that quarter. The Lady Archers seemed a bit tentative on their movements especially on their press breaks allowing the Lady Falcons to get steals and easy points to help balloon their lead to 28-9 to end the quarter. La Salle was paced by Cass Santos with 4 points.
The second quarter became even worse for the Lady Archers as Ortega joined the fray in scoring with 6 points aside from the additional performances still by Almazan and Buendia, as they combined for 14 points. Almazan was just too strong inside the paint as she plucked almost every rebound available, allowing Adamson to convert second and third chance opportunities. Rookie Ara Abaca tried to bring back La Salle into the game by leading the Lady Archers with 6 points on the quarter but the turnovers just simply hurt them as the Lady Falcons outscored the Lady Archers, 23-14, stretching the lead to 51-23 at halftime.
The third quarter was a bit of a slowdown in scoring at the start but Kath Sandel took over the chores that Almazan and Buendia started as she controlled both ends of the floor not just in scoring but controlling the pace as the floor general of the Lady Falcons. She led the Lady Falcons in scoring with 5 points while La Salle was led by 2 points each of Wilson, Amador, Cass Santos, and Piatos. Second year point guard and last year’s rookie of the year Miller Ong was not just in her element today as she was in foul trouble early in the game and had difficulty setting up the plays due to the aggressive Adamson defense. The third quarter ended to the tune of 69-32 in favor of the Lady Falcons.
The Lady Archers showed life on the fourth quarter despite Adamson’s large lead. The Lady Archers outscored the Lady Falcons, 21-15 as Piatos and Viterbo led La Salle with 5 points each in the final canto. With Ong fouling out, Piatos proved to be a good back-up, scoring a trey on a short run to try and cut down Adamson’s lead. But Fria Bernardo had other plans as she replaced the roles of Buendia and Sandel, both of whom went out of the game due to injuries in the third and fourth quarter respectively, scoring 7 points to repulse the Lady Archers’ mini-run. The lead was just too big for the Lady Archers to overcome against an intact Lady Falcons line up, surrendering their first game of season 73.