Fil-Oil: UST completes comeback victory against Lady Archers

Despite dominating the match during the first half, the DLSU Lady Archers fell to the UST Tigresses, 75-72, after a furious third quarter rally by the ladies from España. With the defeat, the Lady Archers drop to a 1-2 win-loss record in the Fil-Oil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup.

UST’s Lore Rivera tallied a game-high 24 points and 16 rebounds. Meanwhile, Camille Claro led the Lady Archers with 19 points.

The Lady Archers started strong against their UAAP rivals, finishing the opening quarter with an 18-11 scoreline. The second period saw the Taft-based squad continuing their shooting rhythm. With an 8-2 run to start the quarter, the sticky La Salle defense held UST scoreless in the first four minutes.

Several turnovers on the part of UST also led the Lady Archers to outscore them by nine points in the said period, 21-12. With the Lady Archers dictating the match, the first half ended with La Salle at a comfortable 16-point lead, 39-23.

Things seemed to take a different path, though, during the third period, as UST started to break their shooting slump. Erupting to a 14-0 run midway in the third, the Tigresses were able to keep close and even forced a deadlock at 46-all with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter. UST slowed La Salle’s offense, resulting to the Taft-based squad only converting 12 quarter points in contrast to UST’s 25. The third period ended with the Lady Archers only leading by three, 51-48.

The final period was a close battle between the two squads. With Claro converting on a lay-up with 2:14 left in regulation, the Lady Archers were leading by six, 71-65. However, UST initiated a 6-0 run to tie the game with less than two minutes left.

UST was then able to convert a basket with 24.6 seconds remaining, and Tigress Rivera sank both of her freethrows to seal the victory for UST at 75-72.

Although the Lady Archers came up short at endgame, the gritty La Salle squad forced UST to commit 23 costly turnovers in the match, from which DLSU converted 30 points, in contrast to UST’s 11 turnover points.

The Lady Archers’ next FilOil preseason assignment is CEU, whom they will face on May 26, 12:30 nn at The Arena in San Juan.

The Scores:

UST 75: Rivera- 24, Reyes- 18, Cortes-13, Siapoc- 7, Felisarta- 7, Isanan- 6, Angeles- 0, Penaflor- 0, Mandilag- 0

DLSU 72: Claro- 19, A. Ong- 14, M. Ong- 11, Garcia- 8, Piatos- 5, Corcuera- 5, Vergara- 5, Roxas- 3, Melendres- 2, Castillo- 0, Gonzales- 0, Scott- 0, Singson- 0, Oyao- 0, Dagdagan- 0, Lumba- 0