NU moves on cusp of reclaiming UAAP women's basketball title, squeaks past UST to stay perfect

National University moved on cusp of reclaiming its title after turning back University of Santo Tomas, 72-71, in Game 1 of their best-of-three finals series in the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

Like clockwork, the Lady Bulldogs preserved their perfect record from the elimination round for their 15th straight victory this season to inch closer to the crown. 

Game 2 is set to be played on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Veteran forward Karl Pingol led the winning cause for NU with a full stat line highlighted by 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting that she laced with nine rebounds, two assists, three steals, and one block. 

Her fellow senior NU star Camille Clarin turned in 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals including a display of efficient defensive scheme on UST’s Kent Pastrana’s last play that she was then forced to give up. 

NU turned a 51-37 deficit in the third period into a 9-0 blitz heading into the payoff period to lock the game at 57-all capped by Angel Surada’s last-second drive to the basket. 

Both sides continued to engage in a nip-and-tuck affair in the fourth period that saw the match tied for the last time at 69-all with 2:48 remaining after Pringle Fabruada’s layup that she followed up with a pair of freebies. 

But it all came down inside the final 50 seconds of the match as Cielo Pagdulagan drilled the go-ahead layup to make it 72-71 for NU. 

UST then committed back-to-back turnovers before Tacky Tacatac missed the potential game-winning triple from the left corner off a Pastrana feed. 

“We know for a fact that it’s a short series. Kasi the mindset of our team was very important to get Game 1. We ingrained it to their minds we should not look at the results right away,. Let the result take care of itself, our mindset was to get the game possession by possession,” NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan. 

Pastrana led all scorers in the losing effort after pumping out 15 of her 22 points all in the first half on top of six rebounds, two steals, and three steals. 

Brigette Santos had 12 markers on 6-of-7 shooting inside. 

Game 2 is set to be played on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, with defending champion UST looking to extend the fight and NU aiming to remedy its heartbreak from last season.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News