By Kevin Estrada
QUEZON CITY -- Thanks to a third quarter takeover, UST continued its stride in the UAAP Women's Basketball tournament, sinking La Salle with a 65-62 win to open its doubleheader Saturday morning at the Big Dome.
The Tigresses fell by four at the half but came back growling with an eleven point turnaround to take the fight out of the Lady Archers.
Three of the Tigresses put up double-double performances, with guard Jem Angeles leading the way with 13 points and 10 rebounds for coach Haydee Ong, whose alma mater had tightened the grip on second spot by improving to 5-1.
Joining Angeles in the triple-double club were Sai Larosa who had a pair of 10s in points and boards and Bets Peñaflor who had 11 and 15 coming off the bench.
Anjel Anies had her scoring improved slightly in just her second start, putting up 10 points on a 62.5% clip from inside the arc, with Lon Rivera capping off a team effort by pitching in 10 points of her own.
Last season's runners-up could not sustain their first-half blitz and fell to 1-4.
UST made its move in the third and took the lead for good with 4:40 left to take a 52-45 lead after the quarter with Larosa scoring seven of the Tigresses' 25 third quarter points.
The Tigresses held firm in the pay-off period to get their third win in a row as the first round nearly comes to a close.
The Scores:
UST 65 -- Angeles 13, Peñaflor 11, Anies 10, Rivera 10, Larosa 10, Gandalla 5, Portillo 4, Capilit 2
La Salle 62 -- Torres 17, Vergara 11, Arciga 10, Castillo 8, Paraiso 7, Jimenez 6, Figueroa 2, Nuñez 1
Quarter Scores: 16-20, 27-31, 52-45, 65-62
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