By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Junior Golden Tigresses continued their dominant run in the UAAP Season 87 girls’ basketball tournament after a 107-47 victory over the De La Salle-Zobel (DLSZ) Junior Lady Archers at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

Negrense Grachelle Boteros earned her second Best Player of the Game honors with an all-around performance of 24 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals for UST.

Katina Insoy and Rhiane Perez added 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Negrense Barby Dajao contributed across the board with nine points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and four steals.

With the win, the Junior Golden Tigresses improved to a flawless 5-0 record while officially eliminating the Junior Lady Archers from finals contention, dropping them to 1-4.

This sets up a best-of-three finals showdown between the Junior Golden Tigresses and the National University Nazareth School Lady Bullpups (3-1) in the return of this demonstration event after a five-year hiatus.

“We are looking forward, not backward, but this is still part of UST’s culture and history,” Junior Golden Tigresses head coach Arsenio Dysangco said after the game.

“We will try to give a good showing in the finals,” he added.

UST wasted no time imposing their dominance, racing to a 31-6 lead in the first quarter before extending the advantage to 59-22 at halftime.

The gap ballooned to as high as 62 points, 101-39, in the final period.

For DLSZ, Sofia Martinez led the team with 10 points, while Irish Notarte chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds./ASC, WDJ