EVER BILENA ONE GAME AWAY FROM WPBL TITLE
JOSEPH W BUDUAN
(December 17, 2008)

Nikki Leonardo took care of the first half. Aiumi Ono took care of the second half. UAAP Season 71 most valuable player Marichu Bacaro took care of everything else. The result: Ever Bilena Gandang Pinay took Game 1 of the WPBL PG Flex Cup Finals against Smart Buddy UP at the Letran gym in Manila 67-57 and are now one game away from defending a title they've technically held the last 10 years.

Playing a tight and tentative first period that ended at 12-11, both teams seemed a little over-eager. A mess of bad passes and missed spots saw both sides unable to execute properly. Estinelli Casakit ended the bad opening quarter with the trey to keep the Gandang Pinay within a point of the Lady Maroons.

But the second period was nearly an all-Gandang Pinay show as Leonardo went on a tear and Bacaro kept finding her in transition. When Ever Bilena took the lead they held it to the end. Bacaro came alive off the defensive boards and showed renewed aggressiveness in playing the passing lanes as she picked off entry passes, stymied drives to the hoop and collared rebounds, all of which led to feeds to Leonardo in transition. Leonardo would score 14 first half points as the Gandang Pinay took a 35-23 lead into the lemon time break. It did not help that Smart Buddy star Sai Sadorra ended the first kanto with three personal fouls on bad gambles on defense.

In the pivotal third period Ever Bilena built as much as a 17-point lead at 42-27 as Bacaro started to wax hot from the perimeter and Ono found her groove slashing into the gut of the Smart Buddy defense. Elaine Orillana and Casakit also kept up the scoring blitz for the Gandang Pinay. With Bacaro, Ono and Rem Buenacosa generating turnovers on the backcourt trap of Ever Bilena, the Smart Buddy guards found themselves under extreme duress. Even as the Lady Maroons couldn't put together an effective press break, the Gandang Pinay had a field day on their transition offense.

Fille Cainglet and Andrea Stevens however came alive in the payoff fourth period as they brought the Lady Maroons back into the fight. Stevens toughened up on defense and attacked the lane even as Cainglet took it right to the heart of the Ever Bilena defense with a couple of gorgeous pivots in the lane. As the Gandang Pinay bled for shots, Cainglet and Stevens brought the Lady Maroons within 57-61 in the last minute and a half.

"I just told the girls to settle down, easy lang tayo and get a score para may konting space pa kami," said Ever Bilena head coach Pat Aquino. Settle down they did. Former Santo Tomas Tigress Nerissa Noscal came in cold from the bench to grab crucial rebounds and bury four straight freethrows. Ono hounded Sadorra full court and also grabbed the last two critical defensive rebounds and nailed two pressure freethrows herself in the end-game.

Ono was adjudged best player of the game with 19 points and eight rebounds. Leonardo added 16 points while Bacaro finished with 14 markers.

Cainglet led Smart Buddy with 17 points while Tolentino had a double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.

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