UAAP: Lady Archers dominate Ateneo, remain undefeated

Despite a slow start, the DLSU Lady Archers overcame their rivals, the ADMU Lady Eagles, 48-39, to remain undefeated in UAAP Season 77 in their opponents’ home court at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.

With no double digit scorer for the game, La Salle relied on its balanced scoring attack to confuse the Ateneo defenders throughout the match. Six players scored more than five points for the Green-and-White, led by Cassandra Santos’ eight markers in only 14 minutes of action. Guard Miller Ong added six points and 12 rebounds with seven coming off the offensive glass.

“I’m just happy with the way we are defending. We’re doing better each game but we have to be smarter during end games,” Lady Archers head coach Tyrone Bautista mentioned. “We have to avoid making mental lapses,” he added.

On the other hand, Danica Jose registered a game-high 17 points along with 22 boards for Ateneo while teammate Likha Javier dished out six assists.

Rusty start, rowdy finish

Both teams went scoreless during the first three minutes of the game until Claire Aseron split her charities at the 6:52 mark of the quarter. Ateneo went on to score the first seven points of the game. However, La Salle came back with a blistering 15-2 run to grab the lead from the Katipunan-based squad, 15-9.

Boosted by their late push in the opening canto, the Lady Archers picked up where they left off and rallied to a comfortable 10-point lead, 25-15, midway through the second quarter. Stifling the Lady Eagles’ offense with La Salle’s frenetic trapping defense resulted to nine turnovers and only two field goals converted for Atene. Center Jose posted five of the team’s measly eight points before the break. La Salle’s ball movement and spread attack led to various players contributing points, with the last bucket courtesy of Trisha Piatos’ jump shot to give DLSU a 29-17 cushion to end the half.

Maintaining control

The Lady Archers continued to establish their control in the game after scoring the first eight points in the second half to extend their lead to as high as 20 with six minutes remaining. Ateneo answered back as Jolina Go ignited a 7-0 run halfway the third quarter. After a series of good offensive and defensive plays from both sides, La Salle settled for a 15-point advantage heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

The Lady Eagles tried to rally back during the final quarter as Ateneo big Jose scored four unanswered points early in the period.  The Katipunan-based squad forced turnovers with their full-court press and contested close-range shots from the Green-and-White with their inside presence.  The score was within single-digits with two minutes left to play.  Both teams failed to score in the remaining minutes of the game but Lady Archer Piatos sealed the victory for the Taft-based squad with a timely steal with just seconds remaining.

“I think we need to improve on our free throws,” coach Tyrone Bautista stated after misfiring their last six free throws in the final quarter. “Isa ‘yun because we might be taking it lightly right now because we’ve won the game, but we need to convert on those especially on the latter part of the season,” he lamented.

Up next for the Lady Archers are the FEU Lady Tamaraws whom they are scheduled to face on Wednesday, August 6 at the Blue Eagle Gym.

The scores:

DLSU 48 – Santos 8, Piatos 7, Garcia 7, M. Ong 6, Castillo 6, Corcuera 5, A. Ong 3, Roxas 2, Vergara 2, Lumba 2, Scott 0, Melendres 0

ADMU 39 – Jose 17, Go 7, Yam 5, Posadas 5, Buendia 3, Aseron 2, Bo-ot 0, Javier 0, Tomita 0, Belarmino 0, Dogong 0, Nitorreda 0, Cancio 0, Tantoco 0

Quarter scores: 15-9, 29-17, 44-29, 48-39