With the Tigresses up 6 in the last two minutes of the game, the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons made a stunning 5-0 run but fell short to University of the Santo Tomas 44-43 in the second game of a quadruple-header in the UAAP Women’s basketball tournament.
The game started as a low-scoring affair for both teams as both teams scored only 14 combined points in the first quarter. UST Center, Maica Cortez, was limited to just 4 points in the opening salvo going just 1 of 4 from the field. Bettina Peneflor made a highlight reverse lay-up over two Lady Maroons to close-out the quarter to give the Lady Tigresses a 6 point lead to end the quarter.
The next two quarters saw both teams go on furious rallies, matching each other point by point but still giving a six point edge to the Lady Tigresses before the start of the final quarter. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the game, both teams scored 10 and 12 respectively with Kristine Siapoc leading the charge for the Tigresses with 5 points while Bea Daez scored 7 points in that same span of time.
During the 4th quarter, UST was outscored by UP 12 to 17. The final minute of the game saw the Ladies from Espana miss 4 straight free throws and commit 2 turnovers to give UP a fighting chance to steal the game down by a point. However, the Lady Maroons would commit 3 crucial turnovers including one with 2.4 seconds left in the game. During the last play, Antonia Wong’s inbound pass was tapped by Lore Rivera into the hands off Wong, while still being beyond the line, to close the game out for the Tigresses.
The Lady Tigresses were led by the sharpshooting Kim Reyes with 11 points, 7 rebounds and steal. Burly center Maica Cortes was limited to just 10 points and a 23% shooting total but was effective on the boards racking up 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes of play. Lady Maroons stalwart Bea Daez led all scorers with 13 points but missed all but 5 of her 18 attempts from the field. Christine Aliermo and Antonia Wong, from the UP frontline, grabbed 11 and 9 rebounds respectively.
With the loss, the Lady Maroons are now 0-5 in the standings while the Lady Tigresses are now tied with the Lady Falcons at 2-3.
