The DLSU Lady Archers’ first round of the UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball Tournament concluded today after prevailing over the ADMU Lady Eagles, 67-57. With the victory, La Salle avenged its early playoff exit at the hands of ADMU last year. Jollina Go led Ateneo, finishing with 18 points in the losing effort. Camille Claro and Khate Castillo led the way for La Salle with 16 and 15 points, respectively, with the latter going four for nine on three-pointers.
First half
Early on, ADMU showcased its intensity on offense, driving into the lane and giving La Salle’s frontcourt a difficult time. On the defensive end, the Lady Eagles were intent on protecting the paint, especially from Snow Penaranda, who was scoreless in the first half, but grabbed seven rebounds early on. With the pressure ADMU put defensively in the low post, La Salle was forced to spread the floor and shoot from the perimeter. DLSU converted 22 of its 34 first half points on the perimeter, 18 of which came from three-point territory.
The Lady Archers started to stray away from the three-point shot in the second quarter. After spreading the floor in the first period, they were able to make it more of an inside game in the second, constantly looking for the open man near the basket.
Ball movement was a big problem for the Lady Eagles, and Hazelle Yam had to take matters into her own hands, catching fire in the first half and scoring her 10 points in the half alone. In addition, ADMU relied heavily on its starters as its bench could not produce a single point in the half, as compared to 16 bench points from DLSU.
Second half
DLSU continued to move the ball around fluidly and kept looking for shots outside. However, the Lady Archers’ shots ceased to fall. Penaranda lead the renewed offensive charge in the second half as she started to look for more offensive opportunities. The Lady Eagles began to move the ball as well as they looked for open shots in the corners and elbows as La Salle’s inability to rotate quickly on defense began to show.
ADMU began to trim the deficit, but La Salle had an answer for each blow the Lady Eagles dealt. Penaranda outpowered her matchup in the paint, finishing the game with only eight points, but grabbing 16 rebounds in the victory. With most of their outside shots ceasing to fall, the Lady Archers attacked the paint more in the second half, driving into the lane and looking for their post players. La Salle maximized ADMU’s 31 turnovers, scoring 22 points out of them.
It was a tightly contested match in the last two minutes as both teams fought things out and tried to outhustle the other. With 58.0 seconds remaining in the game, Castillo drained an open three-pointer from the wing, extending La Salle’s lead and icing the game, 63-55.
As of press time, there is no schedule set for the second half of the tournament.
