De La Salle University relied on its steady hands at the foul line to survive a fourth-quarter storm mounted by University of Santo Tomas and essay a 74-69 victory in a do-or-die match for the last finals seat in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85 women's basketball tournament yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Lady Archers scored all of their last five points from the free throw line after the Tigresses blasted an 8-1 rally that knotted the game at 69 with 47 seconds left to advance to the Finals for the first time in six years.

La Salle will face seven-peat-seeking National University in the best-of-three finals starting Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in a rematch of the 2016 championship.

Cameroonian Fina Niantcho Tchuido led the Lady Archers with 18 points and 12 rebounds, Bettina Binaohan also had a double-double of 17 markers and 10 boards.

"I'd like to give credit to UST they played one hell of a series against us but we were the better team this time around. We made the proper adjustments on what they are doing on their previous games," La Salle coach Cholo Villanueva said.

The second seed Lady Archers were forced to use its Final Four twice-to-beat advantage after dropping the series opener, 57-68, last 30 November.

In the sudden death, La Salle again had a close call.

The Season 82 runner-up Tigresses erased a 68-61 deficit with a telling run capped by a Rocel Dionisio basket off a nifty pass from projected Most Valuable Player winner Eka Soriano to tie the game.

Bettina Binaohan drained her pair of foul shots to put La Salle up by two, 71-69, with 31.2 ticks left.

UST got two chances in their possession, but Joylyn Pangilinan bricked her triple, Bridgette Santos got the offensive rebound but missed her putback.