De La Salle University capped off its stint in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament by staving off University of the East, 58-45, on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Lady Archers finished their season with a 7-7 record on the back of a three-game winning streak with an average of 7.7 points after beating Ateneo de Manila University 67-61 last Wednesday and University of the Philippines 75-71 last November 11.
It was a decent finish for La Salle, which was coming off a 12-2 finish and Finals run back in Season 85, considering it fell to a 2-5 hole by the end of the first round but won five games and only dropped two in the second round.
“I’m very proud of the girls because from our first round performance to now going into the second round and finishing the UAAP tournament on a winning note speaks a lot about the big turnaround that we achieved this year,” said long-time Lady Archers head coach Cholo Villanueva.
“The theme for this year is learning, improving, and not making the same mistakes. I think we proved that in this second round. It’s good momentum for us going into Season 87. Hopefully, we bring the same energy from what we achieved in the second round,” continued the La Salle lifer.
After a strong start that saw them lead by 15 points at the half, Lee Sario stretched the Lady Archers’ cushion with back-to-back baskets to as wide as 38-19 with 7:27 left in the third canto.
However, the Lady Warriors still sought to make things interesting.
Despite facing a 17-point deficit by the start of the fourth quarter, Arabela Dela Rosa’s two triples laced with baskets from Trixie Burgos and Althea Lorena trimmed it down to just 49-42 with 4:54 remaining.
The Lady Archers, though, delivered a strong finishing kick to seal the win.
Bernice Paraiso and Lee Sario scored three-point shots to bring La Salle’s lead up to 55-42 with 2:27 left while UE failed to find an answer for that barrage. Paraiso then iced the game with a buzzer-beating three with 55 ticks on the clock left.
Sario led La Salle with 18 points, seven rebounds, and four assists followed by Paraiso’s 14 points and 18 rebounds.
Tricia Mendoza got six points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two steals while Kyla Sunga contributed four points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Archers are set to have an intact team for next season as everyone in the team is eligible for Season 87.
“In reality, we have an intact lineup because Bernice still has a playing year under her belt,” said Villanueva. “Lee and Bettina (Binaohan) still have a playing year. Most of the players aren’t graduating yet.
“The experiences that we got this year, hopefully, we’ll be bringing them next year and help us reach our goal, which is to win a championship, and I think this year helped us a lot in terms of learning and improving. Hopefully, we don’t forget the lessons that we learned this year and become the contender that we are next year,” he added.
UE, on the other hand, finished the season with a second straight 0-14 campaign and absorbed their 37th straight loss. Dianne Pedregosa is the only graduating player from the Lady Warriors this season.
On the other hand, Dela Rosa led the Lady Warriors with 13 points while Anastacio had nine points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Lorena contributed seven points and 11 rebounds while Burgos had six points and 12 rebounds.