The UP Fighting Maroons held off the La Salle Lady Archers, 63-58, for their second win of the UAAP Season 89 Women’s Basketball Tournament at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
UP had lost its last two games, to the FEU Lady Tamaraws in overtime and to the Adamson Lady Falcons, and is now 2-2 under new head coach Eric Altamirano. La Salle fell to 1-3.
UP Fends Off La Salle Late
Camille Nolasco made two three-pointers in the fourth to push UP’s lead to 10, 63-53. La Salle’s comeback stalled when Kyla Go injured her left ankle with 4:54 remaining and did not return. UP then went scoreless for nearly seven minutes but held on with its defense, forcing turnovers and contesting shots to secure the win.
“We started strong. I thought the girls really played good defense, pero ‘nung fourth quarter, it was a struggle for us to score. But I always remind them, ‘even if we struggle, make sure our defense would not be compromised,’” said UP head coach Eric Altamirano. “True enough, we were able to pull this through. La Salle is a tough team, and what I liked about the girls kanina was that they played cohesively as a team.”
Fighting Maroons Get Spark from Louna Ozar, Blessing Francis
Louna Ozar led the Fighting Maroons with 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, scoring 16 of those points in the first half. Nolasco added 16 points, going 4-of-6 from three-point range. Blessing Francis chipped in a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
For La Salle, Bukko Ojo finished the game with a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Go contributed 12 points and 3 steals.
UP will next face the University of the East Lady Red Warriors on Saturday, October 17, 10:00 a.m. at the Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila. Meanwhile, La Salle will next face the Adamson University Lady Falcons on Sunday, October 18, 12:00 p.m. at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.
