The DLSU Lady Archers suffered a heavy loss at the claws of the AdU Lady Falcons, 72-49, in their UAAP Season 87 Women’s Basketball Tournament meeting yesterday, October 19, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Luisa San Juan was once again the top scorer for the Taft-based squad, tallying 11 points, two rebounds, and two assists. Lee Sario followed with seven points of her own and four rebounds.
Elaine Etang powered the Lady Falcons to their win, putting up 19 points and seven rebounds. Oluwakemi Adeshina added to the victory with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
One step forward, two steps back
The DLSU Lady Archers opened the game with Patrica Mendoza scoring off good team passing and off-ball movement to set the pace of the game, inspiring San Juan to drive with intensity to get another early point in the game for the Green-and-White, 4-0. DLSU showed high-pace energy in the quarter, fighting for each rebound to stamp their mark as they defended AdU’s center Adeshina inside and covered Etang on the perimeter. As the game progressed, the physicality amped up as fouls were exchanged from both sides. Some cracks in this high-energy game plan came out as more forced shots led to the Lady Archers struggling to match the Lady Falcon’s fastbreaks, causing La Salle’s defense to enter the paint and the opponent’s three-point shooters got more space. In the last two minutes of the quarter, an Etang three-pointer slightly rattled the ladies in green, but this spurred La Salle to fight even harder each play. Bea Dalisay weaved a pass, finding a cutting Arabell Bacierto for a quick and easy layup followed by a jumper off a spin move by Lee Sario to keep the momentum with La Salle to end the quarter just four points down, 13-9.
Entering the second quarter, the Taft-based team maintained this energy again as they passed around Adamson’s players to get another easy two. Mica Camba capitalized on the intensity, completing the and-one play after getting fouled. La Salle slowly found their rhythm with Bernice Paraiso’s comeback point, following it up with a pass through a defensively collapsing Adamson for Kyla Sunga for another point in the paint. Sario scored the Lady Archers’ first three-pointer in the game, finally giving them the lead. The Green-and-White ramped up their full-court press, keeping the Lady Falcons a couple of points away from stealing the lead. La Salle then experienced a cold spell as they struggled to convert on their shots, losing the lead as turnovers started to pile on with their 10th turnover in the last few minutes of the first half. With the constant turnovers, the Lady Archers found themselves down five points. However, a Mendoza off the glass jumper kept the lead small as they headed into the third quarter three points down, 33-30.
Falcon shield
With a narrow deficit at the halftime break, the DLSU Lady Archers looked to redeem their lead early in the second half. However, the Lady Archers found it difficult to break down the Adamson defense three minutes in and conceded two early baskets as they saw the lead extend to eight, 38-30. The Green-and-White struggled to contain Adamson’s rhythm, electing to foul and gift free throws to the white shirts and forcing Coach Cholo Villanueva to call a timeout at the 6:30 mark. San Juan found her shooting touch after the timeout, getting inside to cut the lead to six, 41-35. However, the Lasallians found it difficult to find openings in the Adamson defense as they turned the ball over, leading to easy shots for the Lady Falcons to extend the gap to 13 with over three minutes left, 48-35. The green shirts found themselves tallying points through free throws, but Adamson maintained their form and kept their double-digit lead at the end of the third quarter, 55-39.
The Lady Archers looked to launch a comeback early in the final quarter as they hustled for second-chance points. However, the Taft-based squad still struggled to find gaps in the Adamson defense, turning the ball over as they saw their deficit remain in double digits, 58-41. San Juan remained as La Salle’s offensive spark as she drained a trademark three-pointer two and a half minutes in, 58-44. However, Adamson’s defense remained decisive in bringing the white shirts fast break points to extend the lead to 18 with over five minutes left, 64-46. DLSU improved their ball movement to spark their offense, but they remained cold and were unable to drain shots. The Lady Archers were unable to cut the gap as the Lady Falcons remained persistent in their defense and scoring of fast break points to end the game with a 23-point deficit for La Salle, 72-49.
Following this loss, the Green-and-White fell to a heavy 2-7 record. They hope to improve their standing when they take on their archrivals, the ADMU Blue Eagles, on Saturday, October 26, at 12 pm at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
DLSU 49 – San Juan 11, Sario 7, Mendoza 6, Camba 5, Paraiso 4, Bacierto 4, Santos 4, Dalisay 3, Sunga 3, Dela Paz 2, Rodriguez 0
AdU 72 – Etang 19, Adeshina 16, Angeline Alaba 8, Limbago 6, Apag 5, Manlimos 5, Padilla 3, Angela Alaba 2, Agojo 2, Meniano 2, Delos Santos 2, Ornopia 2, Mazo 0, Cortez 0, Trabado 0
Quarter Scores: 9-13, 30-33, 39-55, 49-72
