THE UST Growling Tigresses are on a five-game winning streak after a hard-fought win over the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 77-73, in the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Despite the late surge of the Blue Eagles in the final minute, the Tigresses stood their ground and claimed their eighth win at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Both teams were off to a slow start, with UST maintaining a two-point cushion after a follow-up from forward Agatha Bron, 17-15.
Ateneo clawed back with an 11-4 run after Junize Colago and Gracie Batongbakal fired a couple of threes to snatch the lead in the first quarter, 26-21.
Tigress veteran Tacky Tacatac hit two consecutive beyond the arc shots early in the second frame, trimming the Blue Eagle’s lead to three, 30-27. Rookie guard Karylle Sierba took matters into her own hands after converting a mid-range shot and a three-pointer to seize the lead, 35-32.
The Tigresses ignited an 8-5 blitz capped off by a rebound basket from Bron to end the first half, 43-37.
The Katipunan squad kicked off things aggressively in the second half after dropping a nine-point scoring barrage to cling to a one-point advantage, 46-45.
The España squad responded with three triples from hotshot Brigette Santos and Tacatac to overtake the Blue Eagles, 56-50. In the dying minutes of the third quarter, Sierba forced a turnover from Ateneo and converted a layup, 62-57.
UST star player Kent Pastrana started off the final salvo with seven straight points to pull away, 69-59. Ateneo attempted a late comeback with a 14-7 run, but CJ Maglupay drained a game-winning freebie to seal their victory, 77-73.
“What we did was we followed what coach instructed us to do, to defend and to stop committing fouls since there were questionable calls,” Santos told The Flame.
Despite struggling, Pastrana spearheaded the Tigresses’ offense with 16 points, including four steals. Santos and Tacatac chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, reigning MVP Kaycee dela Rosa had an exceptional double-double performance with 23 points and 18 rebounds, along with Calago adding 23 markers.
The Tigresses will aim to stay flawless in the second round as they go up against the FEU Lady Tamaraws on Oct. 27 at the Mall of Asia Arena. F
