Tigresses devour Lady Tamaraws to cap 1st round bid

MANILA, Philippines – Behind the outstanding outputs of transferee Kent Pastrana and reigning MVP Eka Soriano, University of Santo Tomas ended the first round of the UAAP Season 86 women’s basketball tournament at third after drubbing Far Eastern University, 82-66, on Saturday at the Adamson University Gym.

Pastrana, the Season 82 Rookie of the Year, led the Growling Tigresses with 28 points — 17 of which came in the second quarter — along with six steals, five rebounds and three steals. Her 28 points tied her career-high outing which she set last October 4 against the Lady Falcons.

On the other hand, Soriano had her best performance this season with 17 points behind 4-of-7 shooting from the three-point area, 11 assists, five rebounds, one steal and one block.

For UST coach Haydee Ong, the performances of Pastrana and Soriano were something her team wanted to carry into the second round.

“Actually, Eka was doing this through the last season,” said Ong. “Talagang parating double-double siya. Now, Kent is here to help us dun sa scoring cudgels ng last season. But more pa; we need more for this season round.”

The Growling Tigresses ended the first round with a 5-2 record, which put them in third place in the standings.

Their strong showing in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for them.

Tantoy Ferrer, Pastrana, Briggette Santos, and Soriano’s back-to-back threes widened the Growling Tigresses’ separation away from the Lady Tamaraws to as much as 71-56 with 4:46 remaining in the game.

Queenie Aquino’s threes and Josee Kaputu’s basket trimmed the deficit to just 64-71 for FEU with less than four minutes left in the game.

However, UST put the finishing touches in the endgame.

Tacky Tacatac, Ferrer, Apple Maglupay, and Soriano linked up right at the end of give their team its biggest lead of the ballgame at 82-64 with 28.4 ticks remaining.

“It’s a total team effort,” said Ong. “We ended the first round on a high note today versus FEU. Hopefully, we could do it sa second round.”

The Growling Tigresses forced the Lady Tamaraws to commit 30 turnovers, which gave the former 28 points.

Meanwhile, Congolese center Kaputu led the Lady Taamraws with 22 points and nine rebounds