Lady Falcons repel Maroons

MANILA, Philippines -- The Adamson Lady Falcons returned to the winning column after holding off a furious rally by the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 60-56, in UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball action Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Adamson's win put the team up to 4-2 in the season, good for solo third place.

Victoria Adeshina dominated the paint with 18 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Falcons. Cheska Apag followed suit with 12 markers and six boards to go with five steals.

Adamson led by 14 points in the second quarter, before UP slowly clawed back.

The lead was cut to just one, 54-55, with 1:36 to go in the contest. However, Apag sank a crucial layup to push the lead back to three, 57-54.

Achrissa Maw was able to pull the Fighting Maroons to within striking distance, 56-58, with less than 20 seconds to go.

With a chance to score, UP's Christie Bariquit missed on her attempt. This, then, led to Cris Padilla icing the game with a pair of free throws.

“I think they were really patient and I’m really happy and proud that this is a testament of maturity for them after a devastating loss against NU in the last game. I was saying that we needed to get back at this and we have to stay where we want to be," Lady Falcons head coach Ryan Monteclaro said.

The San Marcelino-based squad rose to solo third, while pushing the Diliman-based cagers down to fifth place with a 2-3 slate.

Elaine Etang finished with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for Adamson, to help her school win over UP for the first time since 2022.

Maw finished with 16 markers and seven boards, while Louna Ozar produced 15 and 13.

Later in the day, the National University Lady Bulldogs continued their dominant run this season with a 67-39 demolition of the University of the East Lady Warriors.

NU, last season's runner-up, is now holding a 6-0 win-loss record.

The Lady Bulldogs had a balanced scoring outing, led by Princess Fabruada with 11 points. Nicole Pring added 10, while Camille Clarin finished with nine markers.

All players fielded by the Sampaloc-based team scored at least a point, except from Gheralyn Ico.

Their lead grew to as much as 33 points, 62-29, late in the game.

“Every game, ang gusto namin is to give exposure as much as possible to every player that we have because they are working hard daily sa practice and their minutes would matter kung gaano kagaling naman yung ilalaro nila sa actual game,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Aris Dimaunahan said.

“We got balanced minutes today, and yes, we got our sixth win, but that’s the goal for today after the final buzzer, we want to stay on top,” he added.

Rachel Lacayanga paced UE with 18 points and seven steals, while Kamba Kone chipped in seven points and 11 rebounds.