Aye Par Battay, Party Rockers stay on top

Aye Par Battay, Party Rockers started the second round of the 2011 BANMI Women’s Summer Basketball League with separate wins Monday night at the TSL Sports Complex.

In the first game, Aye Par Battay topped Mix-A-Lot, 64-45, to improve to a 3-1 record in the three-round robin competition. Party Rockers hold the same slate and share the lead with Aye Par Battay, following a 77-66 triumph over the Lazy Buttsss in the second match of the night.

Both Aye Par Battay and Party Rockers got off to jackrabbit starts to dictate the tempo of the separate games early en route to easy wins.

In the curtain-raiser, Aye Par Battay led by 15 at halftime, 36-21, as the Jamie Mendoza-led squad capitalized on a depleted Mix-A-Lot crew.

Mendoza had eight of her 14 points in the first half, as she and Nicole Arborilas made things happen for Aye Par Battay. Arborilas tallied 10 markers in the first 20 minutes of play and finished with 14 points, her best offensive game so far in the four-team league.

Aye Par Battay extended the lead in the second half, as other players stepped up. In contrast, only Mercedes Mesa and Lalaine Pagarao scored consistently for Mix-A-Lot, allowing the team to fall behind by as much as 21 points in the second half.

The victory was second in row for Aye Par Battay against Mix-A-Lot, as the former won their first round encounter early this month, 63-52. When they met for the first time this season, Aye Par Battay had only five players and was down to four mostly in the second half when Mendoza got injured, but Mix-A-Lot lost the game in the end. In the second round, tables turned this time when Mix-A-Lot’s showed up for the match with only five players.

In the second game, Jeraldine Castillo sizzled for 26 points to lift Party Rockers to an 11-point victory over the winless Lazy Buttsss (0-4).

The Party Rockers’ lead ballooned to as high as 20 points in the closing minutes of the first half, as Castillo and Kaylani Lebria anchored the teams’ attack. Lebria hit three triples in the first half and had 15 in that canto, while Castillo chipped in 12 for Party Rockers’ 47-29 halftime lead.

The Lazy Buttsss picked up its scoring in the second half behind the outside sniping of Elilai Pialug and inside baskets of Ira Palero. However, Castillo answered with her own scoring spree in the second half to foil Lazy Buttsss’ bid to make it to the win column.

Palero led the Lazy Buttsss’ losing cause with her 28 points, while Pialug contributed 22.

Aye Par Battay 64 [/B]– Arbolilas 14, Mendoza 12, Williams 10, Ito 8, M. Castillo 8, K. Ito 6, Bartolo 5.

Party Rockers 77[/B] – Castillo 26, Lebria 19, Johnson 10, Ito 6, Abrams 6, Gozon 6, Samson 4.