MANILA, Philippines – The UST Growling Tigresses staved off the resurgent Adamson Lady Falcons’ stand, 71-59, to advance to the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball finals at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, December 4.
With the win, defending champion UST set up a best-of-three finals rematch with seven-time champions NU Lady Bulldogs, the lone undefeated team this season.
“It is a total team effort. At the end of the day, our defense dictated our game against Adamson,” UST head coach Haydee Ong said in Filipino. “This game also showed the things we need to work on ahead of the finals.”
It will be the third finals appearance in four seasons for UST, all of which were against the powerhouse Lady Bulldogs.
Last season, the Tigresses ended the Lady Bulldogs’ reign in a nail-biting Game 3 finals win. However, UST failed to record a win against NU this year.
“For us, just like last season, we are the underdogs (in the finals). We need to work harder and harder together for this against NU,” Ong continued.
Trailing by double-digits in the second quarter, the Lady Falcons zoomed to a 15-2 run to snag control and a 37-35 lead at halftime.
Adamson continued to pounce on the cold-shooting UST early in the second half, before the Tigresses put up a 13-3 blast to end the third quarter, regaining momentum en route to the finals-clinching victory.
Kent Pastrana carried the offensive cudgels for the Tigresses with 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 8 assists to take over for UST when it mattered most in the second half.
“We just had to do what it took for us to go to the finals. We want to go back-to-back,” Pastrana, who finished as runner-up in the season MVP race, said in Filipino.
CJ Maglupay backed her up with 13 markers and 11 boards on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting from the field, while guards Brigette Santos and Tacky Tacatac put up 10 points apiece for UST.
On the other hand, Elaine Etang and Kem Adeshina tallied 14 points each in the losing effort.
Adamson warded off the Ateneo Blue Eagles in overtime thriller, 59-53, last Saturday, setting up the stepladder semifinal clash against the Tigresses.
The finals series between UST and NU will start on Sunday, December 8, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com