Cold Perlas extend winning streak to 4

Despite going ice-cold on offense, Discovery-Rizal managed to hold off Tagaytay-Tol, 66-56, to notch its fourth straight win in the 2025 Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League regular season late Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Montalban.

The Perlas struggled offensively but weathered a late rally from the Lady Patriots to seal the victory and improve to 4-2, forcing a tie with New Zealand Bluefire-Batangas for second place.

The frigid atmosphere inside the Ynares Center seemed to seep onto the court, with both squads finding it hard to heat up on offense as Discovery-Rizal shot 25-of-75 while Tagaytay-Tol went 16-of-63 from the field.

However, the veteran-laden Perlas made up for their frosty shooting with composure and timely baskets, shutting down the Lady Patriots in the final stretch to ensure the streak stayed alive.

“I would say that we didn’t really play well,” Discovery-Rizal head coach Derrick Pumaren said.

“We made a lot of mistakes tonight, especially in the game plan, defensively and offensively we made a lot of mistakes.”

Discovery-Rizal seemed to have broken the game wide open after starting the fourth quarter with a 7-2 burst, capped by an Allana Lim layup that stretched the gap to its biggest at 16 points, 60-44, with 6:05 remaining.

But just when it looked like the Lady Patriots were down for the count, Stefanie Berberabe ignited a fiery response, scoring four straight points to spearhead a 10-2 run that trimmed the deficit to just eight, 62-54, with 2:34 left to play.

Tantoy Ferrer halted Tagaytay-Tol’s surge with a wide-open layup off a beautiful dime from Lovejoy Candelario, but Luisa San Juan calmly sank two free throws to trim the lead back to eight.

From there, Discovery-Rizal leaned on its defense to hold the Lady Patriots at bay before Camille Sambile finished a fastbreak with 23 seconds left to ice the game for the Perlas.

“Instead of taking control of the ball game, stepping on the gas, we were not able to do it. We made them come back because of our mistakes. That’s why it happened,” the veteran Pumaren said.

Ferrer, who barely played in the second half due to foul trouble, paced Discovery-Rizal with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals in 23 minutes of action.