THE ATENEO Lady Eagles suffered their fourth loss of the season losing to the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons, 40-42, on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

With the loss, the Lady Eagles fall to 2-4 in the standings, while the Lady Maroons were able to claim their first win of the season to go up to 1-4 in 1st round of the UAAP Women’s Basketball tournament.

The Katipunan-based squad raced out to an early 7-2 lead, which was capped off by a triple by Jollina Go. Although UP was able to cut the lead to one, free throws by Akiko Tomita and Katrina Guytingco gave the Lady Eagles a 10-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A pair of triples by UP’s Jeanine Bautista and Alexis Franco tied the game up at 17-all midway through the 2nd quarter. The Lady Maroons were able to earn a three-point lead, but a solo 5-0 run by Hazelle Yam towards the end of the quarter helped the Lady Eagles regain the advantage heading into the half (22-20).

The Lady Eagles, however, came out cold in the third quarter, scoring only four points in the entire period through free throws by Yam and a basket by Tomita. UP, on the other hand, scored nine points in the quarter, highlighted by a quick 4-0 run to take a three-point lead heading into the 4th quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Maroons were able to get their lead up to five through a jumper by Ma. Therese Medina over Tina Deacon. Although Binky Uy De Ong was able to get the lead down to one through a triple, UP made free throws to stay in the lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Both teams were in the penalty at this point in the contest. With 12 seconds remaining, Yam went to the line and split her free throws to tie the game up at 40-all. However, needing a stop on the final defensive play, Uy De Ong was called for a foul. UP’s Bautista went to the line and calmly sank her free throws to give the Maroons a 42-40 lead. Although Yam was able to quickly bring up the ball, the Lady Eagles were unable to attempt a shot as time expired.

Ateneo Lady Eagles assistant coach Pat Borjal was speechless at the outcome of the game. When asked about the team’s performance, he said “They did our game plan. They tried their best, kaya lang talaga may lapses, which are part of the game.”

Although the Lady Eagles outrebounded the Lady Maroons 57-46, the free throws spelled the big difference in this game. The Lady Maroon missed only three free throws throughout the game, going 18/21 from the line. On the contrary, the Lady Eagles went for 12/20, making only 60% of their charities.

Guards Yam and Uy De Ong co-topscored for the Lady Eagles with 10 points apiece in the low scoring affair. Tomita finished with a near double-double with eight points and nine boards, including six offensive rebounds.

On the side of the Lady Maroons, Daphne Esplana, Ma. Patricia Pesquera, and Bautista led the balanced UP scoring output with eight points each.

Next up for Ateneo is a clash against archrival DLSU Lady Archers on Sunday, October 2, at 10AM at the Mall of Asia Arena .

Quarter Scores (Ateneo-UP): 10-6, 22-20, 26-29, 40-42

Box Scores: Ateneo: Yam- 10, Uy De Ong- 10, Tomita- 8, Guytingco- 4, Go- 3, Deacon- 2, Newsome- 2, Cancio- 1

UP: Esplana- 8, Pesquera- 8, Bautista- 8, Aliermo- 6, Medina- 3, Franco- 3, Wong- 2, Ordoveza- 2, Rodas- 2