Piatos on target as Lady Archers brush aside Lady Warriors

The skies above Metro Manila were clear today, but it was raining treys inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum this Saturday morning. Trisha Piatos of the De La Salle University Lady Archers nailed 6 triples as her Archers cruised past the University of the East Lady Warriors, 78-52. Starting point guard Piatos was automatic from three-point territory, hitting a mind-boggling 75% of her long-range attempts en route to 20 points, in only 17 extremely efficient minutes of play. Lady Warrior Danice Llosala tossed in 17 points for a UE squad that was severely overmatched. La Salle’s victory gives them the league’s second-best tally at 9-2, behind only the 11-0 NU juggernaut. The Lady Warriors drop to 2-9, bettering just winless UP.

The Lady Archers’ dominance over the Warriors was buttressed by dizzying ball movement, as 24 of their 27 made field goals were assisted. Consequently, the Taft-based ballers shot 44% from the field in their blowout win over UE. Also, while the Lady Warriors leaned on their starting line-up to produce the numbers, DLSU went 14 deep, drawing solid contributions from every single member of the team. While UE stalwarts Llosala, Chery Joy Ano-os and Ruthlaine Tacula were wearing down from 30 plus minutes of action, nobody on the La Salle squad topped reserve guard Camille Claro’s 23 minutes on the hardwood. Additionally, every Lady Archer save forward Nicole Garcia notched at least a point for DLSU, with 8 players scoring 5 or more points in the contest. Garcia herself was still far from ineffective, as she totalled 6 boards, 3 assists and a rejection in only 12 minutes of play. The result was a game that quickly ran away from UE, as the Lady Warriors’ resolve was whittled down by the unrelenting wave of green jerseys.

Aside from Piatos’ merciless marksmanship, DLSU received 9 points from forward Jamie Roxas, and 7 from guard Steph Vergara. Martina Lumba, Jonah Mellendres and skyscraper center Fretzie Oyao scored 6 apiece. Oyao also turned back 2 ill-advised Warrior attempts in but 9 minutes of game-time. Camille Claro sank a solitary triple for her only 3 points of the game, but led all players with 5 assists. On the UE side, starter Ruthlaine Tacula notched 12 points, 10 boards and 4 dimes, but also nearly collected a dubious triple-double with 8 turnovers. Cherry Joy Ano-os was similarly stymied by the DLSU swarm, and she finished with 7 points, on a pitiful 17 shots, 8 rebounds and 6 turnovers. The imposing Eunique Chan was unable to find position in the shaded area against La Salle’s frontline, and she wound up managing 9 points and 4 rebounds.