De La Salle University may be an also-ran this year but it salvaged some pride against archrival Ateneo de Manila University.
The Lady Archers slammed the door shut on the Blue Eagles’ aspirations for a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament by prevailing 67-61 on Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Lady Archers avenged their 87-80 overtime loss to the Blue Eagles last October 4 in the first round to improve their record to 6-7 in fifth place.
“We just did not want to lose, not for anything else, not for their (potential) twice-to-beat advantage,” said Lady Archers coach Cholo Villanueva. “When you’re up against the ‘other school’, you really want to win and you want to compete.
“That’s our mentality. Even if we’re out of the Final Four, we still played today because we wanted to win against that team,” added the former Green Archer.
It was a grind-out victory for the Lady Archers.
Ateneo center Kacey Dela Rosa brought the Blue Eagles within 59-60 with less than six minutes left in the game.
However, Bernie Paraiso quickly responded with a jumper to give La Salle a 62-59 edge with 5:14 to go.
The Blue Eagles then failed to score a basket in their next two possessions after they called for a timeout. Bea Dalisay extended the Lady Archers’ cushion, 65-59, with a three-point basket at the 2:18 mark.
Ateneo’s second-year big Sarah Makanjuola brought her team closer at 61-65 when she scored a putback off Sandra Villacruz’s miss with 1:56 left.
Then Dela Rosa executed a clean block on Lee Sario to prevent the latter from scoring.
However, La Salle tightened up on defense to seal the win.
The Lady Archers forced Dela Rosa to miss her shot. Following that, Betts Binaohan iced the game using two free throws with 21.4 ticks on the clock remaining.
Sario and Paraiso led La Salle with 15 points apiece, while Binaohan and Luisa San Juan chipped in 11 points each.
Tricia Mendoza produced 10 points and 14 rebounds as well for the Lady Archers.
La Salle has won four of its past six assignments in the second round. It will finish its campaign against fellow also-ran University of the East this Sunday at 11:00 AM at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“This second round, we wanted to win every time we were inside,” said Villanueva. “We made winning impact plays. We lost two games but, again, the improvement from where we were from that first round and now (is) a tremendous improvement for the girls.”
On the other hand, the Blue Eagles fell to 8-5 in fourth place.
Only four players scored a basket for Ateneo. Dela Rosa led the Blue Eagles with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Junize Calago contributed 21 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.
Makanjuola chipped in 12 points and 18 rebounds while Jhzamin Joson was limited to just six points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
Ateneo will close its elimination round campaign against twice-to-beat-seeking University of Santo Tomas this Saturday at 9:00 AM at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
DLSU 67 – Sario 15, Paraiso 15, Binaohan 11, San Juan 11, Mendoza 10, Dalisay 5, Dela Paz 0, Sunga 0, Delos Reyes.
Ateneo 61 – Dela Rosa 22, Calago 21, Makanjuola 12, Joson 6, Villacruz 0, Gastador 0, Eufemiano 0, Cancio 0, Angala 0, Solis 0, Mataga 0, Nieves 0.
Quarterscores: 25-17, 40-36, 54-48, 67-61.
