The De La Salle University Lady Archers’ poor start to their UAAP Season 80 Women’s Basketball Tournament campaign comes to a halt as they prevailed 76-64 versus the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons.
Charmaine Torres and Marga Dagdagan led the Taft school with 17 and 16 points respectively today at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“Of course we’re very happy we broke into the win column. As you know we’re not used to getting our first win in our fourth game. Hopefully this will be a good stepping stone in the coming games and we keep the momentum going,” commented Lady Archers mentor Cholo Villanueva.
Down as much as 20 points in the second quarter, the Lady Maroons came roaring back after halftime and went within 53-57 from the Lady Archers early in the final period courtesy of Iriss Isip’s three.
From that moment, La Salle went on a 14-2 rampage kickstarted by Torres’ five straight points to widen their lead by 69-55 with just three minutes left in regulation.
State U tried to retaliate and four unanswered points from Isip brought her and the rest of the Lady Maroons closer at 64-70 with just 1:03 left in the game.
Unlike their previous game, though, the Lady Archers showed more composure with the ball. La Salle’s steady play down the stretch prevented UP from crawling back and charities from Dagdagan and Johanna Arciga sealed the win.
La Salle ultimately won 76-64 against UP to finally get the monkey of their backs this season. The Lady Archers shot 34.48 percent from the three-point line compared to the Lady Maroons’ 18,52 percent.
“We were making smarter plays down the stretch. We were making stops when we needed them. We were executing properly this time around compared to the other games,” added Villanueva.
Daphne Esplana, Isip led UP with 19 and 10 points respectively while Marian Domingo got 20 rebounds for the Lady Maroons.
Up next for La Salle (1-3) is a date with University of Santo Tomas on September 30, 8:00 AM. On the other hand, State U (0-4) shall face Far Eastern University on October 1, 8:00 AM. Both games will be held at Araneta.
The Scores:
DLSU (76) – Torres 17, Dagdagan 16, Figueroa 9, Jimenez 8, Arciga 7, Del Campo 6, Castillo 5, Vergara 4, Paraiso 2, Nuñez 2, Javier.
UP (64) – Esplana 19, Isip 10, Pesquera 8, Medina 7, Tan 7: Domingo 6, Bascon 4, Ordoveza 2, Gatpatan 1, Cruz, Rodas, Amar, Lapid, Viray, Ongsiako.
Quarterscores: 17-14, 41-26, 57-48, 76-64.
