THE UST Growling Tigresses will advance to the finals after fending off the gritty UP Fighting Maroons, 87-83, in the do-or-die Game 2 of the UAAP Season 86 women’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.
UST’s most recent appearance in the finals occurred four years ago during Season 82, and they were defeated by the NU Lady Bulldogs. The Tigresses will also face NU in this year’s finals.
Down by four in the opening quarter, the Tigresses went on a 19-9 run to lead by six, 21-15. Santos, who was 6-of-6 to start the game, led the Tigresses’ early charge.
UP’s Christie Bariquit sank a triple to trim the deficit to three. However, the Tigresses managed to pull away again with a 16-9 blitz to mount a nine-point lead in the opening canto, which they preserved until halftime.
Tacky Tacatac drained back-to-back triples to start the third quarter, igniting an 11-3 UST run that sent the Tigresses to their biggest lead, 67-50.
However, UP responded with a 13-0 spurt to cut the lead to four.
UP tried to play the foul game to erase UST’s lead, but Santos split her freebies to give the Tigresses a two-possession lead as time expired, 87-83.
Kent Pastrana, who had 29 points in Game 1, paced UST with 18 markers, while Santos and Nikki Villasin chipped in 14 and 12 markers, respectively.
Tantoy Ferrer made her presence felt, tallying 11 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Tacatac had 11 points.
UP’s big Favour Onoh led the Fighting Maroons with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Kaye Pesquera chalked up 20 points.
In Game 1, UST was outrebounded by UP, 62-44, and gave up 30 rebounds to Onoh. The Tigresses outrebounded UP this time, 49-42, and drilled 13 threes.
The UST Growling Tigresses will face the NU Lady Bulldogs in Game 1 of their best-of-three finals series on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
