ANTIPOLO — Tacky Tacatac led the way while Nikki Villasin finally fulfilled her breakout game as the University of Santo Tomas extended its winning streak to four straight games after an 82-61 win over the University of the Philippines in the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Basketball Tournament, Saturday, at the Ynares Sports Center here.
Tacatac tallied 19 points, nine rebounds, and five assists in close to 32 minutes of action while Villasin produced 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 19 minutes of action.
“It’s all because of the hard work of the ladies of course,” said Growling Tigresses coach Haydee Ong. “Working together, relentless defense all throughout the first round, I think that brought us to where we are now in the standings having 6-1.”
The Growling Tigresses raced to a 21-6 cushion early in the first quarter thanks to a Joylyn Pangilinan three.
The Thomasian cagers then extended this to as much as 35-16 at the 7:04 mark of the second quarter off of an underhand stab from Brigette Santos.
In the fourth quarter, UST clinched its biggest lead of the ballgame at 82-61 with 2:16 remaining in the contest courtesy of Eka Soriano’s basket.
After Tacatac and Villasin, Soriano contributed to UST’s win with 15 points, five steals, and four assists while Santos had 10 points and eight rebounds.
“Now that we are in 6-1, I think we are in a better position now to enter the Final Four but of course, we need to work hard again in the second round because teams are scouting everybody else, sila Tacatac and Villasin. They know they’re the shooters of the team so hopefully, in the second round, we’ll perform better than in the first round,” added Ong.
Ong’s wards had 19 points off turnovers, 24 fastbreak points, and 54 starter points to blow the game wide open. In contrast, the Fighting Maroons had eight, six, and 29.
Kaye Pesquera and Larrosa led UP with 18 and 13 points respectively. Acrissa Maw had 10 rebounds for the Fighting Maroons.
The result means that UST finished the first round with a 6-1 record in second place while State U does so in fifth place with a 3-4 record.
caption : Joylyn Pangilinan of UST goes for a left-handed lay-up against a UP defender.