(Photo by Brandon Deichmann)
University of Santo Tomas (UST) banked on a hot start by spitfire Brigette Santos and banked on the steady offense of Kent Pastrana come the second half as the Tigresses spoiled the finals bid of the University of the Philippines, 87-83, in the winner-take-all second game of their UAAP women’s basketball Final Four match Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Santos fired 11 of her points in the first quarter to build an early ten-point lead in the first quarter while Pastrana excelled in the fastbreak and give-and-goes to to stave off UP’s attempts to cram a comeback in the third quarter.
The Lady Maroons launched a 13-0 run midway in the third canto with the outside sniping of Kaye Pesquera and the paint dominance of Favour Onoh to trim the lead, 63-67, but Pastrana played the spoiler, sinking crucial layups off precise cuts to the basket from the Tigresses passing game.
Padding the lead back to ten with Pastrana’s offense, Lady Maroon super rookie Louna Ozar found her scoring form late in the game with nine points in the payoff period to trim the lead to three, 83,86, with less than a minute left but the Tigresses held on with the win.
UST head coach Haydee Ong credited the Tigresses’ teamplay and discipline, saying that their “system brought us here into the finals.”
“Hopefully the girls will appreciate and yung discipline namin in executing our offense will continue for the championship game,” the former national team coach said.
Pastrana topscored with 18 points for the Tigresses while power forward Reynalyn Ferrer, a veteran of the 2019 UST runner-up team, tallied 11 points, 12 boards, and seven assists.
The Lady Maroons, finalists in 2007 and 2008 during the Sai Sadorra era, forced a rubbermatch last Wednesday with an 88-80 overtime win against their twice-to-beat rivals, with Ozar firing 25 points.
“We’re getting there. It’s a very hard process. It’s a very long tedious process. It’s a lot of emotions but UST deserved it, they played better than us today, they deserve to make it in the finals,” said UP head coach Paul Ramos, who was the lead assistant coach of Eric Castro in their previous final stints.
Onoh led the Lady Maroons with 21 points and 14 rebounds; Pesquera scored 20 points off four triples; and Ozar had a modest 13 points off ten attempts, coupled with four assists.
The Tigresses will meet 2019 finals tormentor and reigning seven-peat champion National University on Wednesday afternoon at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Lady Bulldogs swept the Tigresses, 70-65, 66-54, in Season 82.
The scores:
UST 87 – Pastrana 18, Santos 14, Villasin 12, Ferrer 11, Tacatac 11, Soriano 9, Dionisio 6, Danganan 3, Bron 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.
Quarter scores: 36-27, 56-47, 74-66, 87-83
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