Earlier today, the DLSU Lady Archers succumbed to the UST Golden Tigresses, 76-47, at the Mall of Asia Arena. With the loss, the team from Taft now sports a 3-4 win-loss card, while the España-based squad improve to 5-2 to end the first round of eliminations.
Grace Irebu led the Gold-and-Black with 36 points and 20 rebounds. Irebu also found help in Lon Rivera, who scored 10 points to give the Golden Tigresses the win in today’s match.
In the losing effort, Kent Pastrana and Benette Revillosa both tallied 13 points, while Lee Sario followed up with six points and five rebounds.
Grind-out first half
The Golden Tigresses drew first blood as Irebu and Rivera made three consecutive layups to give them the lead, 6-0. At the 6:54 mark, Bernice Paraiso shot behind the three-point line to give the Green-and-White their first points of the match. Both squads continued to exchange baskets, but the Golden Tigresses converted more to push their advantage 20-8, with 52 seconds left in the period. The first quarter ended with two consecutive jumpers from Pastrana to cut the deficit to eight, 20-12.
With momentum slowly creeping on their side, Pastrana and Revillosa scored eight consecutive points for the team from Taft to equalize the match at 24-all. However, at the 3:33 mark of the second quarter, Irebu widened the gap once more as she scored four consecutive points to bring the score to 28-24. With 14 seconds remaining in the second quarter, a putback made by Maureen Okoli helped the cause of the Lady Archers to minimize the opponent’s lead, 33-30, going into halftime.
Falling behind
Picking up from where they left off, the Golden Tigresses immediately scored at the 9:45 mark with an Eka Soriano lay-in to gain a five-point lead, 35-30. To further push the lead, the Espana-based squad went on a 5-0 run off a Tacky Tacatac three-pointer and a made basket from Reynalyn Ferrer.
With La Salle failing to capitalize on each possession, UST started a furious rally with a three-point shot by Tacatac and concluded the run with an easy two-point basket at the low post by Irebu, at the 6:35 and 3:08 marks of the third frame, respectively, to give their team an 18-point advantage, 51-33.
Revillosa answered back as she made a hard drive to the basket to trim the Golden Tigresses’ lead to 16, 53-37. Pastrana, who had the hot hand in the first half, committed an offensive foul against Irebu which led to a UST possession. With 3.2 seconds on the clock, Irebu scored a fadeaway shot to end the third quarter, 55-37, still in favor of the España-based squad.
Pastrana made a free throw to open the fourth quarter, 55-38. The Green-and-White looked to attack the paint more as the final period progressed. At the 7:46 mark, Lady Archer Lauryn Del Campo drove hard to the basket and had the chance for a three-point play, but failed to make the bonus shot to bring her team within 15 points, 55-40.
The Golden Tigresses traded baskets with the Lasallians as Irebu powered through the low post while Revillosa, at the 4:40 mark, made a layup to score DLSU’s last two points for the game, 61-47. As UST continued to connect on offense, the game ended with a reverse layup from Carol Sangalang to solidify their lead over the Lady Archers, 76-47.
With the first round of eliminations now concluded, the Lady Archers with their 3-4 record sit at fifth in the standings. As of press time, the schedule for the second round has yet to be released.
The scores:
DLSU 47 – Pastrana 13, Revillosa 13, Sario 6, Paraiso 5, Torres 3, Camba 2, Del Campo 2, Okoli 2, Quingco 1
UST 76 – Irebu 36, Rivera 10, Tacatac 9, Soriano 5, Ferrer 4, Panti 4, Portillo 4, Gandalla 2, Sangalang 2
Quarter scores: 12-20, 30-33, 37-55, 47-76
