SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines — The UST Growling Tigresses advanced to their second UAAP women’s basketball finals in three seasons after edging the UP Fighting Maroons, 87-83, in their knockout semifinal match on Saturday, November 25, at the Araneta Coliseum.
UST will face the seven-time defending champion NU Lady Bulldogs in the best-of-three championship series starting Wednesday, November 29, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Kent Pastrana, who fired 29 in their 88-80 Game 1 overtime loss to UP, continued her impressive scoring for the Tigresses, knocking down 18 points on 7-of-13 scoring, which went along with 5 rebounds.
Brigette Santos added 14 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter.
“I would just like to commend my team who really worked hard for this finals appearance,” said UST head coach Haydee Ong.
“It’s a team effort. Everybody worked from start to finish. And I will not take away also [from] the UP Fighting Maroons for giving us a good fight,” she added.
“They always make us better as a team, [I] commend them.”
UST, which led by as many as 17 points, 67-50, in the third quarter, saw its huge advantage dwindle in a blink of an eye after a 13-0 run capped off by a free throw by Achrissa Maw, 67-63, with 1:11 to go.
However, the Tigresses created some separation heading to the end of the period and erected a 74-66 advantage at the start of the fourth.
The team led by 11 in the last 3:23, courtesy of a Pastrana layup, before UP rallied back to bridge the gap to 3, 86-83, after free throws by Kaye Pesquera with 15.0 ticks left.
Santos then split her charities with 5.3 left to define the final margin, before Maroon Rhea Sanchez bricked a long attempt from downtown as the final buzzer sounded.
UST started off quickly, shooting 14-of-18 in the opening frame to take a 36-27 lead, and maintained pace for a 56-47 halftime advantage.
“I’m so grateful since we were given an opportunity to face NU in the finals, we will still do our best to get a win,” Pastrana said.
“We trust each other and we will set the tone as veterans because the team picks up on how we play, we will just stick to the system.”
Favour Onoh, who hauled in a UAAP record 30 rebounds in their previous matchup, pumped in 21 points and 14 boards.
Pesquera added 20 for the Fighting Maroons, who fell short of making their first finals appearance since 2008.
Louna Ozar, on the other hand, was held to 13 markers after scoring 25 in Game 1.
The Scores
UST 87 – Pastrana 18, Santos 14, Villasin 12, Ferrer 11, Tacatac 11, Soriano 9, Dionisio 6, Bron 3, Danganan 3, Maglupay 0, Serrano 0.
UP 83 – Onoh 21, Pesquera 20, Maw 15, Ozar 13, Bariquit 11, Domingo 3, Sanchez 0, Vingno 0, Tapawan 0, Lozada 0.
Quarters: 36-27, 56-47, 74-66, 87-83.
– Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.