De La Salle University survived a comeback attempt by University of Santo Tomas, taking a 67-60 victory in the second round of the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Leading as much as 45-29 off a basket by Jeehan Ahmed in the 8:18 mark of the third quarter, the Lady Archers saw their lead trimmed to as much as 59-58 with 2:21 remaining in the contest after Growling Tigresses’ Rocel Dionisio and-one play.
However, La Salle executed a 9-2 run ignited by Fina Niantcho Tchuido’s basket to seal the victory.
La Salle rose to a 6-2 record for third place off back-to-back wins while UST fell to a similar slate after seeing its four-game winning streak snapped. The Growling Tigresses remained in second place by virtue of their 71-57 win over the Lady Archers in the first round.
“We need to bounce back from our first round loss,” said Lady Archers coach Cholo Villanueva.
“We corrected our mistakes. We needed to really want it this time around to get that win from UST. UST is the number two team so you need to play a near-perfect game to beat them,” he continued.
Joehanna Arciga led La Salle with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Lee Sario had 11 points while Niantcho Tchuido flirted with a double-double by producing nine points and 16 rebounds.
The Lady Archers’ bench mob contributed heavily to this win by providing 36 points against the Growling Tigresses’ 21. La Salle also got 27 offensive rebounds versus UST’s 16.
Dionisio led UST with 17 points and 11 rebounds followed by Eka Soriano’s 10 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Tacky Tacatac had seven assists to go along with her five points.
The Scores:
La Salle (67) – Arciga 14, Sario 11, Niantcho Tchuido 9, Torres 6, Ahmed 6, De La Paz 6, Binaohan 5, Jimenez 3, Espinas 3, Dalisay 2, Camba 2.
UST (60) – Dionisio 17, Soriano 10, Bron 7, Ambos 6, Tacatac 5, Santos 5, Villasin 5, Danganan 3, Serrano 2, Pangilinan 0, Villapando 0.
Quarterscores: 22-15, 40-29, 53-43, 67-60.
