The Varsitarian

WITH A stubborn crew tenaciously hanging on their coattails, the UST Tigresses felt a resiliency check was needed.

The defending champion Tigresses thus stamped their composure on both ends of the floor at crunch time, extinguishing one fiery De La Salle University uprising after the other to sew up a finals-clinching 54-46 victory in the 2008 Nike Summer League last June 4 at the Far Eastern University gym.

“I know my players are confident and capable of winning coming into this game,” coach Peque Tan told the Varsitarian. “But they should not be overconfident because the finals is a much tougher assignment.”

Season 70 Mythical Five member Marichu Bacaro hit a cold-blooded trey at the 1:29-minute mark of the fourth quarter that gave UST a commanding 54-43 lead which the Lady Archers – despite nailing a counter triple from hotshot Anjeli Gloriani with 30 seconds left in the game – failed to surmount as time expired.

Carrying the offensive load for UST, the Tigresses unleashed a 9-2 scoring binge capped by a Bacaro lay-up off an assist from Remia Buenacosa for a 28-16 halftime spread.

But the Lady Archers, refusing to hoist the white flag just yet, staged a 6-0 rally midway in the third quarter with Gloriani and Kristine Alon-Alon chipping in a triple each to push La Salle within three, 31-34.

That, however, was the closest the Taft-based cagebelles could get as the Tigresses dominated the game from the opening tiff, dropping a 10-0 bomb, capped by a pair of treys from Bacaro and Nikki Leonardo to wrest the upperhand for UST in the first quarter.

Bacaro topscored for UST with 19 markers while Alon-Alon chalked up 18 points to lead La Salle.

Fine-tuned

Mastery of the opponents’ gameplan propelled the Tigresses to a 61-48 conquest of the College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers in their must-win quarterfinals showdown last June 2.

“We have faced St. Benilde several times already and that allowed us to master their plays,” said Tan.

The Tigresses unleashed an 8-0 scoring outburst iced by a Gail Fermin lay-up to build a comfortable 59-41 advantage going into the final minutes of the contest.

Buenacosa then knocked in a pair of charities to seal the deal for the reigning Nike Summer League champions.

The Tigresses’ man-to-man defense restrained St. Benilde’s offense which kept them trailing, 46-35, at the end of the third quarter.

Prior to acing the second half, Buenacosa completed a three-point play off Bartolomea De la Torre’s foul to hike UST’s lead, 33-31, at the intermission.

Tigresses Fermin and Bacaro took turns in delivering the goods for UST in the first period. Bacaro scored a game-high 16 points for the Tigresses.

Last May 27, UST subdued La Salle, 70-63, to wrap the eliminations round with an 8-1 win-loss card.