De La Salle University earned its second win to close out the first round of the UAAP Season 86 Women's Basketball Tournament, blasting luckless University of the East, 80-62, on Saturday at the Adamson University Gym.

The Lady Archers snapped a two-game skid and elevated their record to 2-5 for seventh place, tied with Far Eastern University, in the standings.

For La Salle coach Cholo Villanueva, this result was the best way possible for his team to wrap up its assignments for the first part of the eliminations.

“That’s the first thing we wanted to do — to end the first round on a high note and gain some momentum heading into the second round,” said Villanueva. “But what happened with us is that the players just found ways to make impact-winning plays. That’s why we were able to win the game.”

Dianne Pedregosa, Minslie Paule, and Paulina Anastacio gave light at the end of the tunnel for the Lady Warriors by trimming the Lady Archers’ 43-27 lead to just 45-40 with over three minutes left in the third frame.

Arabel Bacierto, Betts Binaohan, and Lee Sario then set things right for La Salle by giving the Lady Archers a 55-45 cushion entering the fourth quarter. Luisa San Juan, Lee Sario, and Luisa Dela Paz provided the finishing kick by linking up to give La Salle an 18-point lead with 19.4 ticks remaining in the game.

Sario led the Lady Archers with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and one steal while Dela Paz contributed 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Bernice Paraiso had 12 points and five rebounds while San Juan managed to put up 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal for La Salle.

La Salle and UE had 25 turnovers each but the Lady Archers capitalized by scoring 18 turnover points to the Lady Warriors’ nine. The Lady Archers’ bench players also provided 41 points while the Lady Warriors could only muster 20 in the same category.

Back in the third quarter, a small altercation occurred between La Salle’s San Juan and UE’s Arabela Dela Rosa with 3:30 to go in the period. San Juan was given an unsportsmanlike foul for her part in the incident

“Part of growing up as a team is making mistakes,” said Villanueva. “We just need to look at the film and see how we could correct those mistakes. It’s a given that (since we’re) a young team, we’re really gonna make mistakes. It’s a matter of how we’re going to be adjusting to the next play.”

It ws another unfortunate outing for the Lady Warriors who ended the round winless while suffering their 30th straight defeat. UE last tasted victory on September 21, 2019 — a 68-66 win against University of the Philippines at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.’

On the other hand, Paule led UE with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals followed by Pedregosa’s 15 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block.

The Scores:

DLSU 80 - Sario 15, Dela Paz 14, Paraiso 12, San Juan 11, Bacierto 10, Binaohan 6, Mendoza 6, Dalisay 4, Delos Reyes 2, Bojang 0, Sunga 0, Salado 0.

UE 62 - Paule 17, Pedregosa 15, Anastacio 6, Burgos 6, Dela Rosa 6, Delig 5, Lorena 4, Ruiz 2, Ronquillo 1, Kone 0, Yanez 0.

Quarterscores: 15-14, 38-27, 55-45, 80-62.