Tacky Tacatac provided the spark, leading University of Santo Tomas’ dominant 91-57 victory over De La Salle University to remain unblemished in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Tacatac, a senior guard who is in her final year, led the Growling Tigresses with 25 points — 17 of which were scored in the first half — alongside three assists and three rebounds.
With Tacatac leading the way, UST sits atop the standings along with University of the Phlippines with identical 3-0 slates.
“This time we started strong in the first quarter and bumaba lang nung second quarter,” said Growling Tigresses head coach Haydee Ong as they have won their first three games with an average margin of 23.3 points per game. “Hopefully, we’ll be consistent na every quarter manalo kami. We’ll play it better.”
Dominant were the Tigresess, racing to a 24-4 start and never looking back.
Come the final frame, Eka Soriano’s three three-pointers along with baskets from Apple Maglupay, Rocel Dionisio, and Brigitte Santos provided the finishing touches for the Growling Tigresses, who led as much as 34 points by the end of the game.
UST’s defense proved to be too much for La Salle. The Growling Tigresses forced the Lady Archers to make 30 turnovers, which gave them 32 points. UST also had 23 fastbreak points compared to La Salle’s six.
“Alam niyo naman I’m a defensive coach kaya naiinis ako kapag hindi sila dumedepensa.. Hopefully, we can sustain in our next game against NU yung depensa namin ang get another win for us,” said Ong.
Santos followed Tacatac’s lead by contributing 14 points, six assists, six steals, and five rebounds. Tantoy Ferrer had 11 points and five rebounds, while reigning MVP Eka Soriano produced 11 points and three rebounds. Dionisio also scored 10 points and seized seven rebounds.
Kent Pastrana, who was the UAAP Season 82 Rookie of the Year when she was still with La Salle, had a stunted performance, tallying just two points, three rebounds, and three steals despite averaging 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.5 steals prior to the game.
UST will look to win its fourth straight game this Wednesday against defending champion National University in the Adamson Gym at 9 a.m.
Luisa San Juan was the lone bright spot for Lady Archers with 14 points.
On the other hand, La Salle will seek to end its three-game rot when it faces Adamson at the latter’s homecourt this Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The Scores:
UST (91) – Tacatac 25, Santos 14, Ferrer 11, Soriano 11, Dionisio 10, Maglupay 6, Ambos 5, Bron 4, Pastrana 2, Ly 2, Villasin 1, Daganan 0, Serrano 0, Amatong 0.
DLSU (57) – San Juan 14, Binaohan 8, Sario 8, Paraiso 7, Mendoza 6, Dela Paz 4, Dalisay 4, Bojang 4, Delos Reyes 2, Villa-cua 0, Bacierto 0.
Quarterscores: 35-12, 54-36, 70-46, 91-57
