Lady Archers escape hungry Lady Tigresses, goes up 2-0

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Despite an explosive third quarter rally by the UST Lady Tigresses, the DLSU Lady Archers escaped with a gritty 58-56 win last July 7, 2013 at the Arena in San Juan.

Ara Abaca led La Salle with a double-double performance of 20 points and 17 rebounds while rookie guard Camille Claro added nine markers.

“It is good that we are up 2-0 but it is a long way to go and in any given game, anybody can beat anyone in this league. So we just have to stay focused all the way,” said head coach Tyrone Bautista after the game.

Early on, the Lady Archers cruised to a 6-0 lead thru the consistent plays from rookie Niky Scott along with the hustle plays from veteran forward Nicky Garcia to keep the lead of the Archers at par from the Tigresses.

In the second quarter, UST began started to make small rallies to even the scoring lead by their center, Maika Cortes and Jeannine Ong who would each finish with10 points. However, it was to no avail as Lady Archer center Inna Corcuera pushed the tempo of the game to the paint and was able to produce multiple three-point plays during the second period; she finished the game with eight points. DLSU closed the first with a nine point lead 33-24.

As the start of the second half began, the level of physicality grew higher as UST mounted a rally lead by Marian Mejia who would finish with 17 points in the game.

La Salle had no answer to the streaking and backing her up was her UST teammate Lorre Rivera who would finish the game with nine points.

As the third quarter came to a close, La Salle held a 4 point lead which was sparked by rookie Camille Claro but this was to no avail as Mejia and Rivera had consistent shots from the outside helping UST to come close as the third quarter ended with both teams tied at 44 apiece.

 

The fourth quarter was all DLSU as veterans Ara Abaca and Camille Ramos made crucial baskets in the fourth and maintained a 2 point lead in the last 10 seconds of play to ace DLSU the victory and cruise to a 2-0 start. They finished with 20 points and four points respectively. UST still had a glimpse of hope, but due to inconsistent free throw shooting and hard defense held them to be able to tie the game in the dying seconds of the match.

With the win, the Lady Archers are now up 2-0 in the tournament.

“I’m happy that the girls kept their composure and I just told them to play their game and play with heart, and always trust each other and help one another because that will always result to good things.” ended Coach Bautista.

DLSU (58) – Abaca 20, Claro 9, Corcuera 8, Scott 7, Santos 4, Ramos 4, Piatos 4, Vergara 2, Revillosa 0, Oyao 0, M. Onh 0, A Ong 0, Melendres 0, Garcia 0.

UST (56) – Mejia 17, Rivera 10, Ong 10, Cortes 10, Reyes 7, Penaflor 2, Salvador 0, Angeles 0, Andrade 0

Quarter scores: 14-11, 24-33, 44-44, 56-58

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