THE ATENEO Lady Eagles fall to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigresses, 42-59, on Saturday, October 29 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

This puts the Lady Eagles at a 4-9 win-loss record and faces them out of the final four contention in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s basketball tournament.

Hazelle Yam led the Lady Eagles with 13 points and nine rebounds. Akiko Tomita and Katrina Guytingco followed with 10 points apiece. Guytingco also exhibited a 100% shooting percentage in today’s game, which were crucial contributions to the last half of the game.

In the UST side, Shanda Anies dominated the game with 19 points. Sofia Felisarta and Jhenn Angeles backed up their top scorer with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The Lady Eagles drew first blood with Team Captain Tina Deacon winning the tip and Guytingco scoring a layup to incur the first points of the game for the Lady Eagles. Point guard Yam followed with a three that extended the Lady Eagles’ good start to a 5-1 run. However, consistent three-pointers from Anies and Angeles tied the game at 7-all, and the match entered into a seesaw battle of fouls until the game was tied again at 14-all. The tigresses prowled through the ending minutes of the quarter, making a 5-0 run as the first drew to a close (14-19).

The first half of the second quarter saw the Lady Eagles trailing UST by the widest gap of 14 points, as the Tigresses outplayed the Blue and White with a 9-0 run. Guytingco stopped the bleeding by making both her charities. This kick-started the more aggressive play of the Lady Eagles as Deacon lays up one and Tomita fills a free throw into the bucket before the halftime buzzer sounded.

The third period featured a foul-ridden play by UST, as four out of six of the Lady Eagles’ points incurred in the quarter were from charities. With the Tigresses digging deep into their players, Guytingco, Tomita and Jonette Uy De Ong had to step their shooting game in order to add points to their score.

Both teams were able to blow it out in the last quarter, as both achieved their highest number of team points in the game. As Yam ends her scoring drought, Villamor also follows with a bucket of her own. Guytingco continues to score consistently, while Tomita lands in a few shots to bring the deficit down to nine (33-42). However, UST’s Misaela Larosa steps up by backing up their top scoring trio with baskets of her own, extending the Tigresses’ lead once again. In the last two minutes of the game, Ateneo top scorer Yam makes her last three-pointer in the game, but was countered by Anies, who sank a three of her own in the last 20 seconds of the quarter.

Being snatched off their hopes of entering the final four had left the Lady Eagles with dampened hearts after the game. However, this shall not be an excuse for the Lady Eagles to not continue giving their best as they enter into the last elimination match with De La Salle University (DLSU) in two weeks. “Whatever we did not break today, we’ll break it during the DLSU match,” said Head Coach John Flores.

The Lady Eagles will face the DLSU Lady Archers on Tuesday, November 15 at 1PM.

*Editor’s note: The venue is to be announced and the date and time of the game is still subject to change. Please follow our twitter account (@TheGUIDONSports) for further updates on this matter.

Box Scores:

Quarter scores: 14-19, 19-28, 25-36, 42-59

Ateneo: Yam-13, Guytingco-10, Tomita-10, Deacon-4, Villamor-4, Uy De Ong-1

UST: Anies-19, Felisarta-13, Angeles-10, Larosa-8, Penaflor-4, Magdaluyo-3, Gandalla-2