After trailing by as much as 10 at one point, the De La Salle Lady Archers fell short of coming back against last season’s 6th seed National University Lady Bulldogs, 45-46, at the Arena in San Juan earlier yesterday.
With 10 seconds remaining and Ara Abaca having grip of the leather, the Lady Archers were poised to be in a win-or-overtime scenario, at least until NU’s Eden Alla swiped the ball away, drawing a foul from the Lady Archer.
With Alla splitting her charities, and the Lady Bulldogs having the possession, the ladies from Taft had but to foul. Indeed, Gemma Miranda was sent to the line to shoot two freebies.
Fortunately, she missed her free-throws, and the ball fell into Kady Wilson. However, the remaining time of 3.5 seconds was not enough for last year’s semi-finalists to pull away with the victory.
Not the usual game
Team captain Hannah Viterbo and Inna Corcuera topped the scoring charts for the Lady Archers with nine points apiece, while Nikki Garcia and Ara Abaca added eight points each.
Coach Tyrone Bautista said, “We didn’t play our usual game. We gave NU the confidence right from the start.”
Having been bothered in the whole of the contest as seen through the team’s 25 turnovers, Bautista said that the girls need to take more care of the ball in order for them to command ball games.
The Lady Bulldogs have also outhustled the Lady Archers down low, as the girls in navy blue captured 51 boards against the Lady Archers’ 42.
This led NU to score 15 second chance points, 11 more than the Lady Archers did.
Starting the game slowly
Early on, NU quickly jumped into an eight-point lead courtesy of Carmina Laquindanum, but three straight baskets from Viterbo and Corcuera responded to trim the deficit to a solitary point. Still, the Lady Bulldogs finished the quarter strong with a 12-7 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs increased their advantage to nine at the end of the half, but a resurgent Lady Archer defense held firm in the third. Limiting NU’s offensive production to just three points, the Lady Archers were able to seize a one-point lead at the end of the third salvo.
In the loss against the Lady Bulldogs, the Lady Archers played sans starting point guard Miller Ong, who is recovering from a minor knee injury that was sustained in their loss against the FEU Lady Tamaraws. Trisha Piatos filled the void left by the UAAP Season 72 Rookie of the Year. “We can use her but we don’t want to aggravate the injury,” told Bautista.
With regards to the NU Lady Bulldogs’ improved performance, they had ventured to Malaysia during the off-season to sharpen their arsenal after finishing disappointingly last season with a record of 4-10.
For the next game, the girls in Green-and-White lock horns with the UP Lady Maroons at the Arena in San Juan on Tuesday.
