Sweet-shooting Tigresses romp Lady Falcons to notch opening day victory
By Ernest Martin Tuazon
The UST Growling Tigresses posted a dominant return to 5x5 competition with a convincing 36-point win against the Adamson Lady Falcons, 106–70, in the opening day of the UAAP Season 85 women’s basketball tournament, Saturday morning, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Shrugging off the rust that the pandemic gave, the Tigresses bounced back from a streak of wide-open missed layups as they fired out a 17–2 run to close out the opening salvo, 30–10.
While this gave the University the confidence it needed, Adamson redeemed itself from a first quarter collapse with the help of Dindy Medina’s 10-point output.
The Lady Falcons then outscored UST as they trimmed the Tigresses lead to 14 markers at the end of two, 48–34.
Right out the gates after the half, three-point snipers Tacky Tacatac and Angelika Soriano linked up to balloon the UST lead to 32, 66–34, courtesy of an 18–0 outburst capped off by a Tacatac triple.
Come the fourth, UST forwarded as Jovlyn Pangilinan and Brigette Santos continued the Tigresses’ sweet-shooting, nailingtwo triples in a row to put them in the driver’s seat with a 37-point advantage, 101–64.
As a team, UST made 17 of its 28 attempts (60.7 percent) from beyond the arc, compared to the poor-shooting Lady Falcons who shot 9-of-34 (26.5 percent).
Five Tigresses posted double-digit figures in their rout of Adamson, led by Tacatac’s all-around performance of 21 points, five assists, five boards, and four steals.
This was followed by Pangilinan who posted 19 markers, while Nikki Villasin, Steff Villapando, and Eka Soriano combined for 42 points.
The Growling Tigresses look to carry their momentum as they face the DLSU Lady Archers on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
