Lady Archers book first ticket to final

MANILA, Philippines - Second seed La Salle bucked a five-point deficit in the last eight seconds of regulation then cranked it up in overtime to snatch an 81-74 victory over No. 3 University of Santo Tomas and nail the first ticket to the finals of the UAAP Season 76 women’s basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Archers drew big buckets from Trisha Piatos (28 points spiked by six triples) and rookie Camille Claro (16 markers, including two treys) to complete the come-from-behind victory for a return trip to the best-of-three championship series.

La Salle awaits the winner of the other Final Four duel between top seed National U and No. 4 Adamson, which was stretched to a rubber match on Wednesday after the Lady Falcons  upstaged No. 1 Lady Bulldogs, 76-71.

Claro hit a huge triple at the buzzer to force the extension then she capped DLSU’s searing rally with another rainbow connection to put the Lady Archers ahead, 73-66, 2:45 to go.

Piatos also had six rebounds and three assists while Claro grabbed seven boards as last year’s runner-up DLSU positioned itself for a shot at the crown vacated by Far Eastern.

Kim Reyes and Lore Rivera led scorers with 17 and 16, respectively, while Maica Cortes posted a double-double of 13 markers and 15 caroms for UST, which even held a 39-24 lead at the break.

Adamson outscored NU in the fourth period, 26-16, to topple the Lady Bulldogs and bring their F4 showdown back to square one.

Jinky Balasta paced the Lady Falcons with 21 markers, nine boards and four blocks.

Afril Bernardino led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points and 11 rebounds.