MANILA, Philippines -- The Adamson Lady Falcons ended the first round of the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament with a victory after drubbing the University of the East Lady Red Warriors, 63-51, Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Adamson started hot and never looked back as they secured their second straight win and went up 5-2 in the tourney.
This is their best record in 12 years, when they made it to the stepladder semifinals back in 2012.
Kim Limbago spearheaded the Lady Falcons with 10 points, three assists and two rebounds.
Adamson led by 20 points, 41-21, at the half.
UE, then, tried to climb out of the hole with a 16-6 run sparked by Ivy Yanez to cut the lead to just 10, 47-37.
However, the Lady Falcons answered back with a 9-0 run to push the lead back to 19, 56-37, which they never squandered.
“I’m very happy with how the first round went for us. It’s all about the effort of the players. Kami naman, we’ll just guide them,” Lady Falcons head coach Ryan Monteclaro said after the game.
“It’s about how they execute, how they respond to all the things we’re trying to achieve and at the same time, I told them that with the win today, they’re putting themselves in the position to succeed,” he added.
Kim Adeshina and Angela Alaba contributed seven points apiece. The former had 11 rebounds, three blocks, one steal and one assist, while the latter produced four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Yanez paced UE, who fell to 1-6, with 16 points, while Katherine Ruiz and Aliyah Ronquillo chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Later in the day, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons came from behind and stunned the La Salle Green Lady Archers, 66-62.
Achrissa Maw led the charge with 18 points and eight rebounds, to go with two assists. Louna Ozar added 13 markers, while Kaye Pesquera and Christie Bariquit chipped in 11 apiece.
La Salle led by 10 points, 56-46, heading into the final frame.
However, UP found their groove and eventually overtook their opponents with a 15-4 run to grab a 61-60 lead with 3:38 left.
This was enough momentum to help the Fighting Maroons hold on, as Pesquera and Bariquit iced the game late with free throws.
“I’m just really so happy we won in the last game of our first round. We lost two consecutive games before this so we badly needed this entering the second round. I'm really proud of the girls that we held on and fought back from a huge deficit,” UP head coach Paul Ramos said.
UP rose to fifth place with 3-4, while the Lady Archers dropped to 1-6 heading to the second round.