UAAP: Lady Archers trounce Ateneo again, improve to 8-2

In the second meeting of the season for the two archrivals, the DLSU Lady Archers came out on top again over the ADMU Lady Eagles, 53-37, in their opponent’s home court at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.

Trisha Piatos led the Green-and-White with 15 points, with 13 coming in the second half. Cassandra Santos added 14 markers on seven of 10 shooting from the field, while Nicole Garcia contributed eight points and eight rebounds.

ADMU’s Danica Jose was once again a thorn on the side of La Salle, garnering a double-double of 14 points and 12 boards. Despite her performance, she failed to get ample support from her teammates as she was the only who finished in double figures for the Katipunan-based cagebelles.

In the first quarter, La Salle relied on their shackling defense to grab a 14-2 lead over their rivals after the first 10 minutes. The Katipunan-based squad had no answer for Santos, who scored six points, all from midrange jumpers. Sara Bo-ot was the lone scorer for the blue school with two.

Akiko Tomita took over the scoring load for the Lady Eagles at the start of the second period with three back-to-back baskets, trimming the Lady Archers’ lead to six. However, Camille Claro broke the silence via a free throw to score La Salle’s first point of the quarter at the seven-minute mark.

The Green-and-White ended the half with a 10-2 run led by Santos and Garcia, who chipped in four points apiece during that stretch, 25-12.

It was a neck to neck battle in the third period as the Lady Eagles tried to climb back from a 13-point deficit. Lady Eagle Jose pounced on DLSU’s shaky interior defense to drop eight of her 14 points as they were able to cut the lead down to seven midway through the third. However, Trisha Piatos caught the hot hand at the right time, drilling two straight three-pointers to bring the lead back into double digits.

La Salle never looked back in the final quarter, successfully preventing ADMU to break the double-digit deficit. A Piatos bucket late in the period gave La Salle the biggest lead of the game at 53-36 before Caramia Buendia split her free throws. Neither teams scored a point in the last two minutes to give the Lady Archers the second win of the second round and eighth overall.

The Lady Archers took care of the ball well committing only a lowly 13 turnovers compared to the Lady Eagles’ 23.

The defending champions are currently seeded at second behind the NU Lady Bulldogs who have yet to lose a game.

With four games remaining in the eliminations, the Lady Archers will try to hold on to their Final Four Spot as they face the UE Lady Warriors this coming Saturday.

The scores:

DLSU (53) – Piatos 15, Santos 14, Garcia 8, Claro 6, M. Ong 2, Melendres 2, Vergara 2, Corcuera 2, Lumba 2, A. Ong 0, Castillo 0, Roxas 0, Pineda 0, Scott 0

ADMU (37) – Jose 14, Tomita 7, Buendia 5, Bo-ot 4, Aseron 3, Go 2, Cancio 2, Javier 0, Yam 0, Dogong 0, Posadas 0, Belarmino 0, Lamar 0, Tantoco 0, Nitorreda 0

Quarter scores: 14-2, 25-12, 41-29, 53-37