Facing off against their age-old rivals, the De La Salle University Lady Archers did not let up against the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles, taking a dominant 82-56 wire-to-wire win, Wednesday morning at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Besides picking up their third straight win to go up to 5-2, the Lady Archers also handed the Lady Eagles their fifth straight loss.
“Okay lang naman but we still have a lot of things to improve on on offense and on defense. We are going to be happy with this win and then move on to the next,” shared Lady Archers head coach Cholo Villanueva.
Facing Ateneo was enough motivation for Khate Castillo and the Lady Archers to wallop their arch-rivals.
“Of course there’s no other motivation because we are playing against Ateneo. We know our tradition against them that is why the intensity just came natural,” said Villanueva, who himself had moments in this rivalry.
Up 5-4 early in the game, La Salle surged with a 19-1 run that bridged the first and second frames, locking down Ateneo with their 1-3-1 zone defense. On the offensive end, Castillo scored 17 of her 19 points in the second quarter alone – capped by an easy layup with four seconds left in the half – to build an insurmountable 32-point lead.
Kath Nunez then took the cudgels in the third frame, scoring nine of her 16 points during that span.
La Salle would lead by as much as 45 points in the contest, 77-32.
Charmaine Torres and Joe Arciga also had good outings, as the two finished with twins lines of eight points and eight rebounds. The former was a plus-27, while the latter a plus-26 in the game.
“That’s the number one priority this year, to be healthy. I am very relieved that we survived the first round,” said Villanueva, as his team was riddled with injuries a season ago. “If everybody is healthy, they can do their jobs and roles. So number one priority pa rin is to be healthy the whole season.”
There were no double-digit scorers for the Lady Eagles, who ended the first round with a 2-5 record.
Jhazmin Joson had nine points while the quartet of Melissa Newsome, Alyssa Villamor, Angel Gino-gino, and Joanne Nimes had eight points each. The Lady Eagles though committed 32 turnovers that led to 32 La Salle points.
The Scores:
DLSU 82 – Castillo K. 19, Nunez 16, Quingco 9, Torres 8, Arciga 7, Claro 4, Revillosa 4, DelCampo 4, Binaohan 3, Paraiso 2, Espinas 2, Jimenez 0, Castillo R. 0, Jajurie 0.
ADMU 56 – Joson 9, Newsome 8, Villamor 8, Gino-gino 8, Nimes 8, Go 4, Guytingco 4, Cancio 3, Moslares 3, Buendia 1, Chu 0, De Dios 0, Payac 0, Miranda 0.
Quarterscores: 16-5, 44-12, 71-29, 82-56.
