THE UST Growling Tigresses crashed out of finals contention after yielding to the University of the East Lady Warriors, 62-69, in the UAAP Season 80 women’s basketball tournament stepladder semifinals at the Mall of Asia Arena Saturday.
UST ended the tournament at third place. The Tigresses finished fifth last year.
Trailing by nine points after the third, UE started the final frame with a 17-3 run to take a 64-59 lead with 1:30 to go.
UE clamped down on the Tigresses in the fourth and outscored UST, 22-6.
The Tigresses’ first points came with 4:23 left via Kikay Gandalla’s triple.
“We’re not getting the calls na tinatawag nila sa UE. They gave 35 freethrows against 19 sa amin,” UST coach Haydee Ong said.
UE drained 26 of its 35 freethrows, including nine out of 15 freebies in the fourth quarter alone.
UST went 11-of-19 from the stripe.
Love Sto. Domingo led UE with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Eunique Chan and Joyce Francisco chipped in 16 and 14 markers, respectively.
Larosa and Anjel Anies had 16 points apiece for UST.
