By ADRIAN STEWART CO
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigresses leaned on a third-quarter surge and a strong all-around showing from Negrense Kent Pastrana to overpower the Adamson University Lady Falcons, 79-55, and move a step closer to sweeping the first round of the UAAP Season 88 women’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday evening, October 18.
Trailing by 10 early, the Growling Tigresses roared back behind Pastrana, Karylle Sierba and Eka Soriano, outscoring the Lady Falcons, 29-11, in a decisive third-quarter blitz that completely turned the game around.
Pastrana, the Gilas Pilipinas Women mainstay, provided the spark in the second half with her trademark energy and midrange game, teaming up with Soriano to push UST’s lead to 16, 60-44, heading into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Tigresses never looked back.
“After the first half, I told the girls sa dugout na we were really outhustled by Adamson. It was all effort by the Adamson team, so salute to them,” UST head coach Haydee Ong said.
“Come the third quarter, ‘yung mga bata siguro nagising na sila, and we limited Adamson to 11 points in the third and fourth quarters. That spelled the difference in the first half and the second half,” she added.
Sierba paced the Growling Tigresses with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting along with four rebounds.
Soriano contributed 13 points — 11 in the second half — six assists, five steals and one rebound.
Pastrana and Brigette Santos added 10 points each, and Nigerian center Oma Onianwa nearly posted a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
UST dominated the final frame with four straight inside baskets from Coi Danganan, Santos, Onianwa, and Soriano to stretch the lead to 20, 72-52, sealing their sixth straight win and a 6-0 record.
Adamson, which fell to 3-3, struggled to recover after losing Gilas Women 3×3 guard Cheska Apag to a late-game foot injury.
Apag still finished with eight points, five assists, three steals, and two rebounds before exiting with 2:02 left in the game.
Nigerian center Kemi Adeshina and Brianna Bajo scored 10 points apiece for the Lady Falcons, while fellow Gilas 3×3 standout Elaine Etang was held to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting but grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists./ASC, WDJ