UP drubs UE to hang tight on playoffs spot

The UP Fighting Maroons ended their two-game losing skid after making quick work of the winless University of the East Lady Warriors, 66-42, to build up their final four chances in the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Basketball Tournament, Wednesday morning at University of Santo Tomas’ Quadricentennial Pavilion.

With one game left in the first round of eliminations, the Fighting Maroons are now 3-3 in the standings, tied with Ateneo de Manila University at fourth place in the standings.

According to Maroons’ head coach Paul Ramos, the win is a badly needed one to make sure that the team is within striking distance in boosting their final four chances.

“Very important. As we all know, the standings are shaping up and we are beginning to see who will be battling it out for the second, third, and fourth spots. Obviously, we are buying one of those spots, so every win matters for us,” said Ramos after the win.

Coach Ramos also added that the Maroons are gunning for every win possible in the remainder of the elimination round and are trying to get the magic number of eight wins to get into the semifinals. 

UP arguably had its best start this season, opening the game with a 25-5 first quarter barrage spearheaded by junior Erika Jimenez’ nine points— outscoring the whole UE squad— before letting the rest of the squad continue the Maroons’ rampage in the game.

The remainder of the game became a walk in the park for UP extending the lead to up to 39 points in the third period before winning comfortably with a 24-point margin in their best outing yet in UAAP Season 85.

The Fighting Maroons had a fair share of dominance in this game with four of them scoring in double digits, gaining praise from UP’s head coach.

“I wanted to play some of our players to give them confidence. Some of our players, hindi pa nakaka-buwelo from the past few games, so we wanted to give them an opportunity para mag-gain ng confidence against UST this weekend,” said Ramos.

On the other hand, UE’s Kamba Kone was the only bright spot for the Lady Warriors after tallying 13 markers and 13 rebounds. The Lady Warriors now sits in eight place with a 0-6 win-loss card.

UP will then face finals contender UST this Saturday while UE will try to end the first round of elimination on a high note as they battle Ateneo on Sunday. Both games will be held at 8:00 AM at Ynares Sports in Antipolo. 

The Scores:

UP 66 – Larrosa 11, Jimenez 11, Vingno 10, Domingo 10, Maw 7, Sanchez 7, Bariquit 6, Tapawan 2, Rivera 2, Pesquera 0, Gonzales 0, Sauz 0, Lebico 0, Lozada 0.

UE 42 – Kone 13, Paule 6, Anastacio 5, Silva 4, Lorena 4, Terrinal 3, Caraig 2, Sajol 2, Gervacio 2, Nama 1, Dela Rosa 0, Delig 0, Tinio.

Quarter Scores: 25-5, 38-11, 54-25, 66-42.