The UST Growling Tigresses struck first against the NU Lady Bulldogs, scoring a dominant win in the UAAP Season 88 women's basketball tournament.
In a rematch of the last two seasons’ Finals series, University of Santo Tomas broke down National University, 76-62, for its second win in the UAAP Season 88 women’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at the UST the Quadricentennial Pavilion.
The Growling Tigresses got some vengeance on the Lady Bulldogs, who won the title last year after a hard-fought three-game finale, to improve to 2-0 alongside the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles and the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.
Last season, NU swept the elimination round and was one win away from sweeping the tournament, but UST denied them with a Game 2 victory in the Finals.
This time, the Growling Tigresses made sure that there would be no elims sweep for the Lady Bulldogs, giving them their first loss in just their second game.
“Sinabi ko naman sa girls na tonight, it’s all about how the Tigresses play their basketball. It’s all about their effort. We’re missing our shots, and what is important tonight is we adjusted and played our defense to clamp on those scorers of NU,” said UST head coach Haydee Ong as they finally won a game in the elimination round against NU after going 0-14 since Season 79.
After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, the Lady Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit to four in the third, 38-42, but the Growling Tigresses responded with an 18-4 blast to close the quarter with a 60-42 lead.
UST took advantage of an NU side that has no foreign student-athlete in the paint and Angel Surada’s foul trouble early in the game to grab a massive 78-37 discrepancy in the rebounding department.
The Growling Tigresses hauled in 43 offensive rebounds, even more than the entire rebounding output for the Lady Bulldogs, which also led to 40 more field goal attempts, 98-58.
Nigerian center Oma Onianwa led UST anew with 18 points and 15 rebounds - 12 coming from the offensive end, while Kent Pastrana produced 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block.
Eka Soriano added 11 points and four rebounds, while CJ Maglupay and Coi Danganan grabbed 11 rebounds each while scoring six and five points, respectively.
UST looks to make it 3-0 when it faces the University of the East on Saturday, still at the Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Xyza Pring paced the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line while Ann Pingol chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
Surada, a Mythical Team member last season, was held to just three points and two rebounds.
NU will aim for a bounce back on Saturday as well against an undefeated UP side.
The Scores:
UST (76) - Onianwa 18, Pastrana 12, Soriano 11, Ambos 10, Maglupay 6, E. Danganan 5, Pineda 5, Santos 3, Pescador 3, Sierba 2, Bron 1, Relliquette 0, McAlary 0.
NU (62) - Pring 12, Pingol 10, Villanueva 9, Cayabyab 8, Solis 8, Betanio 6, Alterado 4, Surada 3, S. Medina 2, D. Medina 0, Garcia 0, Canindo 0.
Quarterscores: 20-13, 40-30, 60-42, 76-62.