De La Salle University has booked a ticket to the finals of the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Basketball Tournament following a gruelling 74-69 victory over University of Santo Tomas.
It will be the first time that the Lady Archers will compete in the big dance since Season 79, when they were led by Camille Claro, Snow Penaranda, and Khate Castillo.
This time around, the likes of Lee Sario, Ameng Torres, Betts Binaohan, and Fina Niantcho Tchuido are leading the charge for the Green and White.
“Being composed down the stretch po (was key),” said Betts Binaohan who produced a great all-around effort of 17 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in 28:46 minutes of play. “Iniisa-isa namin. Pag bola namin, kailangan namin mababa yung bola. Pag defense naman, kailangan maka-stop hanggang sa pag buzzer.
“Trust each other na pag may magkamali, i-chi-cheer up namin na bumawi agad and then believing in ourselves na kaya namin manalo. Kaya namin na maka-shoot, makadepensa nang maayos.”
With the game tied at 69-all with 45 seconds remaining off a Rocel Dionisio basket, the Taft school worked harder on defense.
La Salle coach Cholo Villanueva said regularly throughout the elimination round that his current batch of Lady Archers are not the type to win by routing opponents. Rather they are a team that grinds out wins.
Against the UST in the endgame, the Lady Archers went on a 5-0 run to seal the game as they forced the Espana school to miss during its final possessions.
That was a trademark La Salle win. It showed how tough it is to play at the Lady Archers’ pace.
“Pina-practice kasi namin siya every training, yung stop and score,” said La Salle’s Ameng Torres, who produced 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in 31:48 minutes of action.
“Nagiging motivation namin rvery game mas lalo na mag crucial ay kailangan kami maka-stop kasi pag naka-stop kami, yun na. Yun na yung magiging energy namin na mananalo kami ng game na to once na naka-stop kami.”
Despite the win, La Salle knows that it still has one more goal to achieve — winning its first championship since 2013.
Standing in the Lady Archers’ way are defending champions National University, which is determined to clinch a seventh consecutive championship.
“Of course, it’s an opportunity for us to see where our program is,” said Villanueva. “But we’re really on a rebuild. We have so many second-year, third-year guys. It’s an opportunity to make history.
“They’ve been winning the championship for what, for seven years now? Six years? Now we have a chance to break that record also.
“I think we’re capable enough of breaking that as long as we believe in what we’re doing. We do it the right way. We play the right way. It’s just having that opportunity and living in that moment and being able to win it all the way,” he closed.
