The Varsitarian

AFTER a year, against the same team and on the same court, the face-off still yielded the same result.

The UST Tigresses have yet to heal the wounds of a failed title campaign, stumbling before Far Eastern University for the second consecutive year, 55-52, in the Home and Away Invitational League (HAIL) finals last March 27 at the opponents’ home court.

“Remia (Buenacosa) had a leg injury while Marichu (Bacaro) was not feeling well” coach Peque Tan told the Varsitarian. “It was a big factor that two of my ace players were not playing 100 percent.”

UST trailed, 49-54, but Nikki Leonardo sank a crucial three-pointer off a screen from Buenacosa to push the España-based cagebelles to within a basket with 14.3 seconds remaining in the contest.

FEU standout Marilourd Borja then nailed a charity split, and the Tigresses’ next ball possession with just 2.1 ticks left went for naught as time expired.

UST led, 46-39, early in the fourth period. But the Lady Tamaraws, while crippling UST’s offense, put up a final game-turning stand on a 10-3 outburst affixed on Borja and Mary Love Miag-ao’s offensive orchestration, 54-49.

Down by six points at halftime, 21-27, the Tigresses staged a 12-4 uprising iced by a Leonardo trey and a fastbreak lay-up for a 40-37 lead going into the final stretch.

With FEU displaying a relentless full-court pressure defense, the Tigresses succumbed to turnovers in the second quarter and were limited to only seven points on lay-ups from Season 70 Mythical Five member Marichu Bacaro and center Joanne Gregorio.

UST zoomed to an early 12-2 first-quarter advantage courtesy of the Irene Lacaba and Gregorio tandem before the Morayta-based cagebelles dropped an 8-0 bomb to draw near, 14-12, at the end of the first quarter.

Leonardo topscored for the Tigresses with 14 points, while Borja spearheaded the Lady Tamaraws with 21 points.