La Salle beats UE 70-55 for first UAAP Season 89 women's basketball win

Lady Archers even record after opening loss

De La Salle University opened a double-digit lead inside the first quarter and never relinquished control, closing out a 70-55 win over the University of the East on Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City to claim its first victory in the UAAP Season 89 women's basketball tournament. The Lady Archers improved to 1-1 after a season-opening defeat to Far Eastern University, while the Lady Warriors fell to 0-2 and absorbed their 26th consecutive loss dating back to UAAP Season 87.

First-half run sets up the blowout

La Salle sprinted to an 11-2 start and led 22-16 after one quarter before the Lady Warriors briefly grabbed their only advantage, 29-28, on a Roshelle Lumibao midrange jumper early in the second period. The Lady Archers answered with an 11-1 closing run to carry a 39-30 lead into halftime, then stretched the margin to 55-38 by the end of the third after a Bukky Ojo layup extended the cushion to 17.

Go and Ojo power La Salle's attack

Kyla Go led all scorers with 18 points to go with three rebounds and six steals, while 6-foot-3 Nigerian center Favor Ojo added 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists in the bounce-back win. For UE, Rachel Lacayanga and Sy Onate each finished with 10 points, and Lumibao added seven points and three rebounds.

Villanueva credits team's preseason form

Lady Archers head coach Cholo Villanueva said the performance matched what the squad had shown during preparations and contrasted with the opening-game loss. "It's a good character win for us that we came back from a loss, especially our first game. I'm not sure if it was the same team in the first game that I was coaching," Villanueva said. "It was just a far different team from that last game, and this is how we looked in the preseason."