By MARK REY MONTEJO
Bridgette Santos and Karylle Sierba delivered when it mattered most as reigning champion University of Santo Tomas turned back National University, 78-68, and forced a rubber match for the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball title at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Santos led the Golden Tigresses’ offensive onslaught along with Sierba and Kent Pastrana in the payoff period where they unleashed a 16-6 run to take a 76-65 advantage which they valiantly protected to prevail.
Not only the victory kept UST’s title bid alive in their best-of-three finals series but it halted NU’s bid of a title sweep, handing the Lady Bulldogs their first loss in the season.
“I’m very proud kasi it was a total team effort talaga from offense to defense,” said UST head coach Haydee Ong.
Santos was almost unstoppable, firing a career-high 27 points on top of two rebounds and four assists while Sierba, who also registered her best scoring, scattered 15 of her 18 points in the final canto.
Pastrana, for her part, contributed 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Tigresses seek to keep the momentum to clinch their second straight title in Game 3 on Sunday, Dec. 15 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Cielo Pagdulagan scored 16 points while Clarin and Karl Pingol had 12 and 11 points, respectively, as their efforts for NU went down the drain.
Earlier, UST Tiger Cubs also inched closer to the juniors crown after routing title favorite University of the East, 98-84.
The scores:
UST (78) – Santos 27, Sierba 18, Pastrana 11, Bron 8, Soriano 6, Danganan 6, Maglupay 2, Tacatac 0, Ambos 0, Serrano 0.
NU (68) – Pagdulagan 16, Clarin 12, Pingol 11, Surada 10, Fabruada 5, Villanueva 5, Betanio 4, Konateh 3, Canuto 2, Cayabyab 0, Talas 0.
Quarterscores: 20-9, 32-25, 48-49, 78-68.
