MANILA, Philippines — The UST Growling Tigresses and the DLSU Lady Archers scored convincing wins over their respective opponents to mark the return of UAAP women's basketball in three years at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday.
Kickstarting UAAP Season 85 action, the Tigresses routed the Adamson Lady Falcons, 106-70, in the opening game.
Related Stories
Runners-up in UAAP Season 82 — when women's 5-on-5 basketball was last played in the league — the Growling Tigresses eked out a statement win over the Lady Falcons.
Against a team that were also semifinalists in 2019, UST looked impeccable as they hit the ground running en route to a wire-to-wire victory.
At the end of the opening salvo, UST led by 20 points, 30-10.
While Adamson were able to regain some bearing in the second quarter where they trimmed the lead down to single digits, an 18-0 scoring burst to begin the third frame blew Adamson right out of the water.
With five Tigresses breaching double-digit scoring, UST bumped their lead to as big as 38 points in the second half.
"Of course I'm very happy and excited that women's basketball is back in Season 85. Talagang unang salbo ang UST, and we're happy that we got our first win in Season 85," said UST head coach Haydee Ong.
"There's a lot of work to be done. This is just the beginning," she continued.
Tacky Tacatac led the Tigresses with 21 points while Jovlyn Pangilinan added 19 markers on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting clip.
Newcomer Nikki Villasin contributed 15 points for the Espana squad.
Dindy Medina paced Adamson in the loss with a game-high 29 points.
In the second game, the DLSU Lady Archers foiled the UP Fighting Maroons, 73-51.
DLSU built a big lead from the get-go as they ended up on top at the end of the opening frame, 19-8.
Fina Tchuido tallied a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three steals to pace the Taft squad while Luisa San Juan added 12 markers.
"It's a good start for us. We just wanted to execute properly during our first game. So good thing the girls responded well and we had our first win," said La Salle head coach Cholo Villanueva.
For the Fighting Maroons, Acrissa Maw topped the scoring column with 11 points. She also had eight rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.