The DLSU Lady Archers’ late surge in the second half wasn’t enough to extend their win streak to five games, as they fell to the Adamson Lady Falcons with a score of 54-52, last September 11.
Fourth-year guard Trisha Piatos was the lone bright spot for the squad from Taft Avenue as she had a game-high 18 points, highlighted by four made three points baskets. The sweet-shooting standout was the only one from La Salle to break into double-figure scoring for the game.
The Lady Falcons used a balance attack to confuse the DLSU defense as they were led by Analie Tongco who scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds. Joy Cochico supplemented the attack with nine points, five assists and five rebounds while Jinky Blasta had eight points and three rebounds.
A glaring note for the game was the dismal game of the Lady Archers’ leading scorer and MVP candidate Ara Abaca. Averaging a double-double throughout this season, the reigning Mythical Team member played 25 minutes, but only contributed four points and five rebounds. The usual stat-sheet stuffer was held to limited productivity by Adamson’s handcuffing defense.
After a tight and balanced first quarter displayed by both teams with the score ending at 13-12 in favor of the Lady Falcons. The one point deficit of the Lady Archers ballooned into a huge nine point deficit at the half as they were outscored 20-10 in the second canto.
The deep hole that the Taft-cage belles were in was too much to climb out from as their 20-13 run in the third quarter still left them down by two points going into the final period. Head coach Ty Bautista’s squad looked capable of stealing the game from their counterparts, but the Lady Archers seemed too exhausted to take the lead once more, as both teams scored nine points apiece in the deciding quarter to end with a final deficit of two points.
Due to a resolution from the UAAP Board Meeting last September 12, the FEU Lady Tamaraws forfeited their games played from July 21 to August 25. The forfeiture came due to guard Vangie Soriano playing in a commercial league during the on-going UAAP season, an act strictly prohibited by the rule book which is punishable by forfeiture.
With this, the Lady Archers go into their final game of the eliminations against UE on Monday, September 16 at the Mall of Asia Arena with an 11-2 record. A win will tie La Salle with the now-league-leading NU Lady Bulldogs at 12-2 for first place.
The scores:
ADU 54: Tongco-12, Cochico-9, Balasta-8, Quingco-7, Avila-7, Mateo-5, de Castro-4, Garrido-2, Taller-0, Ong-0, Bilbao-0
DLSU 52: Piatos-18, Santos-8, Claro-8, Ramos-6, Melendres-4, Abaca-4, Garcia-3, Revillosa-1, Vergara-0, Scott-0, Ong M.-0, Ong A.-0, Corcuera-0
Quarter scores: 12-13, 32-23, 45-43, 54-42
