The University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses secured their spot in the women’s basketball post-seasons after outgunning the Adamson University Lady Falcons, 74-63, Saturday afternoon at the Tigresses’ own backyard, the UST gym.
The Tigresses ushered in their final assignment of the regular season with a 7-0 run. Struggling to keep up with the fiery UST, Adamson would only manage to fire back late in the quarter, finding the means together after finding themselves in a 4-15 deficit with three and a half minutes left on the clock. The Tigresses would however go on to close the quarter 18-10.
Adamson’s offensive would show some life, with Jingky Balasta rallying the Falcons to trim the deficit to 15-20 in the first two minutes. Kristine Siapoc however would fire back to extend the lead to 23-15 for the Tigresses. Baskets from Lore River and Kim Reyes would put the Tigresses up by double digits once more, 28-17, with six and half on the clock.
Both squads would go all out on the run-and-again well into the third quarter, firing back at each other fastbreak after fastbreak. The Tigresses would force the Lady Falcons to 31 turnovers, getting 29 points from the Falcons’ turnovers. Though the Falcons would manage to keep up with the Tigresses’ barrage, Maica Cortes explode in the third quarter to take the scoring reins from a resting Lore Rivera. At the end of the third quarter, UST would hold on to the 61-41 lead.
Undaunted by the twenty-point deficit, Adamson’s Jingky Balasta and Zhalyn Mateo would eventually rediscover their shooting touch to slowly trim the Tigresses’ lead. A layup basket from Janille De Castro would cut the lead to twelve, 68-56, approaching the last two minutes. The three-point-savvy Kristine Siapoc however would fire back with another basket from beyond the arc to give UST the lead, 71-56. The Lady Falcons would continue finding ways to trim the lead in the final two minutes, but with time on their side, the Tigresses would go on to walk away with the win.
Maica Cortes led the Tigresses with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Lore Rivera meanwhile had 19 points and 9 rebounds. Zhalyn Mateo led the scoring for Adamson with 18 points.
With the win, the Tigresses finish the regular season with an 8-6 record and the ticket to the post-season. The Lady Falcons meanwhile end their campaign with 6-8.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FT | |
| UST | 18 | 23 | 20 | 13 | 74 |
| AdU | 10 | 16 | 15 | 22 | 63 |
