Charmaine Torres’ hands were just too hot for the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons.
On the back of 90-percent shooting from the field, the third-year guard lifted the De La Salle University Lady Archers to an 81-60 victory over the Lady Maroons this Saturday morning at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Torres led all scorers with 21 points.
“If you’re gonna look at Charmaine, she doesn’t get points out of her own individual moves. She gets her points from playing the passing lanes, playing good defense and getting loose balls or through ball movement. She’s starting to get her rhythm in this tournament so hopefully it will continue,” explained La Salle head coach Cholo Villanueva.
Nunez and Torres sunk five unanswered points to hand the Lady Archers a 28-12 cushion early in the second quarter. However, the Lady Maroons retaliated in impressive fashion with a 14-6 run closed out by Andrea Ferrer’s trey, to cut the deficit to 34-26 in favor of the La Salle at halftime.
That was as good as it got for the Lady Maroons, though, as the Lady Archers came out of the dugout revitalized for the second half. Two consecutive threes from La Salle’s gunners Khate Castillo and Camille Claro restored the Taft school’s 16-point lead as UP failed to muster any sort of resistance this time around.
The star of the show, though, was Torres, whose basket extended La Salle’s lead to 58-30 with 2:46 left in the third period. The game truly well and over at that point and Villanueva’s wards coasted until the final buzzer.
With only 3:35 remaining on the game clock, Bettina Binaohan’s three provided the Lady Archers their biggest lead of the ballgame at 76-39 towards an 81-60 victory over the Lady Maroons.
Kathleen Nunez followed suit for the Green and White with 10 points, while Bernice Paraiso also contributed eight points and eight rebounds in what was La Salle’s fourth win in the UAAP Season 81 Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“It’s good that we’re being more consistent,” added Villanueva. “We need this win to finish strong in the first round. We want to be in rhythm going into the end of the first round so it’s a good win for us because our rookies stepped up today.”
La Salle’s perimeter shooting won them the game, as they shot 37.5 percent compared to UP’s measly 16.67 percent. The Lady Archers’ bench also stepped up with 53 points, while the Lady Maroons’ lack of depth was exemplified with 16 points.
Noella Cruz paced UP with 15 points, followed by Lou Ordeveza and Andrea Ferrer, who produced 12 points and eight rebounds and 10 points and eight rebounds respectively. Therese Medina seized 10 rebounds for State U, while Cindy Gonzales also provided nine boards.
UP lost their 22nd straight game.
Both schools shall next play on October 10 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. La Salle (4-2) face their archrivals Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles at 8:00 AM, while State U (0-6) confront the Adamson University Lady Falcons afterwards at 10:00 AM.
The Scores:
DLSU (81) – Torres 21, Nunez 10, Paraiso 8, Castillo A. 8, Claro 8, Binaohan 7, Espinas 4, Jajurie 4, Quingco 3, Arciga 3, Malarde 3, Revillosa 2, Del Ocampo 0, Castillo 0, Jimenez 0.
UP (60) – Cruz 15, Ordoveza 12, Ferrer 10, Amar 7, Rodas 4, Medina 4, Gonzales 3, Hidalgo 2, Rivera 2, Larrosa 1, Bascon 0, De Guzman 0, De Leon 0.
Quarterscores: 21-12, 34-21, 58-34, 81-60.
