University of the Philippines walloped University of the East, 70-55, to maintain its hopes of a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Fighting Maroons raised their record to 10-3, which levels them with the UST Growling Tigresses and just half a game behind league leaders NU Lady Bulldogs who have an 11-1 record.
For coach Paul Ramos, this was the perfect bounce-back win for the Fighting Maroons after their 75-71 loss to the La Salle Lady Archers last Saturday.
“We were not desperate against La Salle and that’s our fault,” said Ramos. “We could have played better and then La Salle played very well and so we learned our lesson. For today’s game, our approach was much more different than last game.”
From an eight-point cushion by the half, the Fighting Maroons pummeled the Lady Warriors to the point that they led as much as 54-30 off a Justine Domingo three-point play with 5:32 to go in the third quarter.
Come the payoff period, Kamba Kone’s and Trixie Burgos trimmed the deficit to 58-44 with eight minutes left in the contest. However, the trio of Kaye Pesquera, Achrissa Maw, and Rizza Lozada iced the game at 66-46 with 4:22 left.
Maw led UP with 13 points, six rebounds, and three steals followed by Louna Ozar’s 11 points and seven assists.
Nigerian center Favour Onoh seized 17 rebounds to go with nine points, three steals, two assists, and one block.
UP will face off against National University this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We need to learn as fast as we can how to play with poise because NU is an experienced team and they know what to do,” said Ramos. “They’ll also come back with a lot of energy just like us. We both want to win that ballgame.”
Arabela Dela Rosa led UE with 14 points, six rebounds, and four steals while Paulina Anastacio followed her lead with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Kone contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds while Dianne Pedregosa seized 11 rebounds to go along with her six points for the Lady Warriors.
UE hopes to end its run of 36 winless games against fellow also-ran De La Salle University this Sunday at 11 a.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
UP 70 – Maw 13, Ozar 11, Domingo 9, Onoh 9, Lozada 9, Sanchez 8, Pesquera 7, Vingno 2, Tapawan 2, Bariquit 0, Jimenez 0, Sauz 0, Godez 0, Quinquinio 0.
UE 55 – Dela Rosa 14, Anastacio 12, Kone 10, Pedregosa 6, Paule 5, Ruiz 4, Burgos 2, Ronquillo 2, Delig 0.
Quarterscores: 15-12, 36-28, 56-38, 70-55.
