Hannah Viterbo, Ara Abaca and Nicole Garcia pooled for 32 points out of 45 to carry the Lady Archers past the FEU Lady Tamaraws, in a low-scoring affair of 45-34 for the 18th Father Martin Cup Women’s Division last April 29 at the San Beda College Gym.
After trailing by 13 at halftime, Lady Tamaraw Camille Sambile chipped in seven of her 20 points to ignite a 14-2 run that reduced a 13-point deficit into a solitary point within 11 minutes of the second half action.
The Lady Archers answered with a Viterbo triple to start a 9-0 rally, courtesy of Abaca and Garcia to drive away the Morayta-based girls for good.
Team captain Viterbo topped the scoring with 12 points, all from the three-point lane, as UAAP 74 Mythical team member Abaca and starting guard Garcia poured in ten baskets each while combining for 13 rebounds to fuel the offense of the girls in Green.
The game kicked off with the Lady Archers dictating the tempo to end the first canto, 15-8.
The Taft-based squad carried on their dominance in the second period by leading as much as 15 before halftime.
Except Sambile, all Lady Tamaraws experience a scoring drought, with each scoring no more than three points to sum up their poor offensive game.
Despite limiting the UAAP champions to a paltry 34 points throughout the game, Lady Archers mentor Tyrone Bautista insists that there is still a lot of improvement to be done, particularly on the defensive end.
“I’m not yet satisfied but (there is) a vast improvement from the last time,” he noted.
“’Yung mga lapses namin, naayos namin, pero needs improvement pa rin. We’ll move forward and continue to improve ourselves. For UAAP ‘to, so dere-derecho lang,” Viterbo shared.
Coach Bautista also praised his team for the way that they carried themselves after a disastrous third quarter that saw them register a game-low two points—both earned from the stripe.
He concluded, “We played selfish basketball and that’s not the kind of basketball that we play, so when we came back on the fourth, we were able to play the unselfish basketball that La Salle is known for.”
Quarter scores: 15-8 27-14 29-26 45-34
Archers’ games schedule: http://thelasallian.com/?p=2190
