After garnering their first win last Saturday, over the UP Lady Maroons, the DLSU Lady Archers were unable to continue their momentum as they were defeated by the UST Golden Tigresses, 65-62. Charmaine Torres led all scorers with 17 points to carry DLSU. On the other side, Jem Angeles and Bets Penaflor had 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the winning effort.
“UST played a good game; they’re the number two team. They played to sustain their momentum. Us, we didn’t step up towards the end of the game especially in the second half that’s why we lost the game,” claims head coach Cholo Villanueva.
Strong first half
The Lady Archers started the opening quarter with high intensity and pressure. The Lasallians managed to outscore UST inside the paint by eight points, bannered by big man Bernice Paraiso. Joehanna Arciga chipped in ten points of her own in the first half, which helped DLSU gain a four-point advantage over the Golden Tigresses at the end of the first quarter.
The succeeding quarter opened with a quick basket from UST’s Anjel Anies. The Golden Tigresses then caught up with the Lasallians, forcing the second deadlock of the game through the efforts of Tin Capilit and Ruby Tortillo. Both teams seemed to struggle offensively during the quarter, scoring only 11 points apiece. Fortunately, a basket from Castillo in transition followed by a three-pointer by Torres restored La Salle’s lead to four, 31-27, coming into halftime.
La Salle capitalized on UST’s errors as it converted nine points from 17 turnovers by the Tigresses. Another advantage for DLSU was their field goal percentage. The Lasallians shot 40 percent from the field, which was a fair margin compared to UST, which only made nine of their 38 attempts in the first half.
Second half struggles
The Golden Tigresses started the quarter strong as they immediately took the lead away from the Lady Archers. Tortillo converted a three-point play to give UST a 32-31 lead at the 8:31 mark but Castillo quickly made a three-pointer to grab the lead back for La Salle.
The game had four lead changes and three deadlocks after Castillo’s three-pointer, but Angeles knocked down her second three-pointer of the game to make it a 43-41 lead for the Tigresses. It was the last lead change of the match as UST held on until the final buzzer. Angelika Figueroa made a field goal near the end of the third quarter to cut the deficit down to seven, 52-45.
Paraiso converted a free throw and a field goal to start the comeback for the Lady Archers in the final canto but Penaflor made three straight points to answer Paraiso’s mini run. Torres and Alyanna Vergara kept La Salle afloat with their brilliant play at the offensive end but Anjiel Anies, Angeles, and Penaflor answered every basket of the Lasallians in the last minutes of the quarter to hold on to their lead.
Costly turnovers and missed shots at the crucial stages of the game denied the Lady Archers their second win of the season, even though they had an advantage in the field goal percentage department, 38.46 percent compared to UST’s 32.88 percent.
Although the Lady Archers are currently struggling due to the team’s lack of experience, Villanueva continues to be optimistic on his team’s growth. “We’re not satisfied, we’re just competing in the game. We’re always there to win pero reality is we’re a young team and it comes with growing pains of maturing as a team.”
The Lady Archers will look to to win their second game of the season as they challenge the ADMU Lady Eagles on October 4, 3 pm, at the Blue Eagle Gym.
The scores:
DLSU 62 – Torres 17, Vergara 11, Arciga 10, Castillo 8, Paraiso 7, Jimenez 6, Figueroa 2, Nunez 1, Dagdagan 0, Del Campo 0
UST 65 – Angeles 13, Penaflor 11, Anies 10, Larosa 10, Rivera 10, Gandalla 5, Tortillo 4, Capilit 2, Isanan 0, Aujero 0, Magat 0, Jerez 0
Quarter scores:
20-16, 31-27, 45-52, 62-65
