MANILA, Philippines — The UST Golden Tigresses bucked a slow start against the Adamson Lady Falcons to clinch their eighth victory of UAAP Season 85, 73-66, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion here in Espana on Sunday.
After ending the first salvo trailing by six, 12-18, UST uncorked a 27-point second salvo to flip the script and gain the double digit advantage, 39-29, at the halftime break.
The Tigresses, who are now one win away from clinching a spot in the Final Four, raised their lead to as big as 17 after a Jovlyn Pangilinan triple, 54-37, with 4:01 left in the third quarter.
But a gritty Lady Falcons squad went down swinging as they rode the offense of Victoria Adeshina and Rose Ann Dampios to slash UST's lead to as small as five, 68-63 with 2:04 left.
Fortunately for UST, Pangilinan and Eka Soriano scored on clutch baskets to bring the advantage back to 10, 73-63, with a minute and a half remaining.
Pangilinan and Soriano paced UST's scoring with 17 and 13 markers, respectively. Soriano also had eight rebounds, six assists, and six steals.
Adeshina led Adamson in the losing effort with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Dampios, meanwhile, added 16 markers.
Coach Haydee Ong, though, isn't resting on her laurels with their 8-2 record as she pointed much need for improvement in handling the ball.
"A win is a win but I told the girls that after the one week break, it's an uphill game — Ateneo, NU, diba? We have to work on our turnovers. We had 34 today. We'll keep working hard in the coming games." said Ong.
UST faces Ateneo next on November 13 while the Lady Falcons, who fall to 3-7, face the DLSU Lady Archers.
The Scores
UST (73) - Pangilinan 17, Soriano 13, Bron 11, Tacatac 9, Dionisio 8, Villasin 5, Santos 4, Villapando 4, Serrano 2, Araza 0, Ambos 0
Adamson (66) - Adeshina 18, Dampios 16, Flor 13, Padilla 6, Alaba 5, Agojo 4, Catulong 2, Ornopia 2, Meniano 0, Etang 0
Quarter scores: 12-18, 39-29, 58-47, 73-66