Lady Falcons rip Tams, keep cage crown

MANILA, Philippines - Anna Buendia and MVP Analyn Almazan delivered the goods as Adamson outclassed Far Eastern U, 56-54, to retain the women’s title in the UAAP Season 73 basketball finals at the Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

Buendia and Almazan fired eight points apiece in the payoff period as the Lady Falcons seized a 54-46 lead then hung tough to thwart FEU’s rally in the last 2:04 and sweep the Lady Tams in their best-of-three series, 2-0. Adamson took the opener, 75-69, last Saturday.

“This championship is special because we’re making it a farewell gift to our key players Almazan and (Katherine) Sandel, who are both graduating,” AdU coach Emily Vega said in Filipino after leading the Lady Falcons to back-to-back wins and their sixth title overall.

The 5-11 Almazan hit a pair of three-point plays and a basket in the first eight minutes of the fourth to spark a 15-10 run that gave AdU a seven-point cushion.

But the Lady Tams fought back and threatened at 52-54 on a triple by Karen Columna with 26.9 seconds left in the contest. But Buendia kept the Lady Tams at bay with two charities off Jocy Positos’ foul.

Buendia shot a game-high 21 points while Almazan added 18 points and 14 rebounds and Sandel had eight markers for AdU, which duplicated its back-to-back triumphs from 2003.

Almazan made her last collegiate game more memorable as she received her second straight Season MVP award (88.64 statistical points) and Finals MVP plum (13.5 ppg, 12 rpg and 2.5 spg) on the same day.

Joining Almazan in the Mythical 5 were UE’s Cindy Resultay (85.07 SPs), National U’s Carmina Laquindanum (81.86), and FEU’s Raiza Palmera (78.93) and Allana Lim (69.79).