Defending UAAP champions National University Lady Bulldogs stamped their class against last year’s Finals rivals Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles, 74-52, Sunday morning at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
NU head coach Patrick Aquino reminded the girls at the start of the game that the Lady Eagles were not a team that they should take lightly.
“This is the team we played in the Finals,” he shared. “They have a good program, a good coach. They will always be a fighting team; we have to be ready for that.”
The Lady Bulldogs leaned on a furious 13-5 second quarter run to jumpstart their dominant run. On the other end, they limited their opponents to a 22.22 percent shooting clip and forced them to 13 turnovers in the quarter alone.
The lead grew to 32, 71-35, in the fourth quarter for the Bustillos-based cagers off Je-anne Camelo’s hot shooting.
Ateneo’s bigs Akiko Tomita and Tina Deacon tried to pull their team with the former registering an 6-0 run to cut the lead to 26.
The lead, however, was just too much as NU ran away with their 34th straight win since Season 77.
Reigning MVP Afril Bernardino led the charge for the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Jack Animam pulled off a 13-point, 5-rebound game despite being hobbled by foul trouble.
Deacon had 13 markers and 7 caroms to pace Ateneo, while Hazelle Yam registered a quiet 9-point production in the second half.
Coach Aquino praised his bench and hoped that they could deliver consistently. “I am just surprised that the bench stepped up today,” Aquino furthered.
“I just told them to keep working hard also. Everyone’s going at us: from the front, from the back, from side to side. We have to be ready.”
NU (2-0) will stake their unblemished run against Adamson (1-1) on Wednesday, September 14 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. On the other hand, Ateneo (1-1) takes on the Adamson Lady Falcons (1-1) on Saturday, September 17 at the Big Dome. Both matches are at 10am.
The Scores:
NU (74) – Bernardino 17, Animam 14, Ceño 12, Camelo 10, Miranda 10, del Carmen 5, Itesi 4, Nabalan 3, Harada 0, Layug 0, Lopez 0, Tañeza 0, Malana 0, Rebadulla 0.
ADMU (52) – Deacon 13, Yam 9, Villamor 8, Cancio 7, Tomita 6, Go 3, Guytingco 2, Newsome 2, Uy de Ong 2, Veloso 0.
Quarterscores: 16-10, 33-15, 57-35, 74-54.
