UAAP: UST Tigresses deal UP costly loss in women's hoops

University of Santo Tomas (UST) sent University of the Philippines (UP) to the brink of elimination in the UAAP Season 85 women's basketball tournament after taking a dominant 85-52 wire-to-wire victory, Wednesday at the Quadricentennial Pavillion in Manila. It was a bounce-back win for the Tigersses, who are coming off an 87-64 defeat to defending champion National University (NU) last week. UST improved its record to 10-3, just half-a-game behind second-running De La Salle University. "I told the ladies that we need to win our last two games and hopefully force a tie with La Salle. UST will face Far Eastern University in their final game for the round on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Fighting Maroons' Final 4 fate is no longer in their hands after dropping to a 5-8 record. They are two-and-a-half games behind current No. 4 Ateneo de Manila University, who they will face on Saturday. UP will hope for an Ateneo loss versus University of the East later in the day. The Tigresses surged to a 22-13 start and were in complete control, 49-25, at the half. They led by as much as 37 points multiple times in the fourth quarter. Leading MVP candidate Eka Soriano tallied 24 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds, and five steals for UST, while team captain Tacky Tacatac got 24 points built on four treys. Rocel Dionisio and NIkki Villasin got 11 points apiece as well. Kaye Pesquera led UP with 12 points while both Christie Bariquit and Acrissa Maw added 11 markers apiece. Maw also grabbed nine boards in the loss.
Courtesy of: news.abs-cbn.com