For the tenth straight game, the National University Lady Bulldogs emerged victorious in the UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball Tournament as they won 79-61 against the Adamson University Lady Falcons.
NU’s big three came up good once again today at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City. Gemma Miranda had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Jack Animam made 17 points and 25 rebounds, and Afril Bernardino produced 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“We played one of our worst games for this season,” lamented NU mentor Patrick Aquino. “Afril Bernardino didn’t play well, the others weren’t connecting. We can’t take away the game from Adamson. They played well today. Their shooting was better.”
Adamson proved to be a stubborn opponent for NU as the former relentlessly kept up pace with the latter. Two consecutive Jamie Alcoy treys made it 48-51 early in the fourth quarter.
However, the Lady Bulldogs regained their poise as a Bernardino basket capped off a 14-4 run which gave them a huge 65-52 cushion deep in the period.
From that moment onwards, the Lady Falcons failed to halt the Lady Bulldogs’ momentum. Animam scored in the paint to make it 74-60.
In the end, NU eventually prevailed 79-61 at Adamson’s expense. The win extended NU’s winning streak to 41 games and it also secured them a place in the Final Four for this season.
“I told them we can’t be playing like this in the next few games. Everybody is gonna be at us. Everybody is gonna be looking at this game. It’s probably not the last time we’ll have this kind of game. We gotta be ready,” Aquino opined.
The Sampaloc-based school won the game via its interior presence. NU had 54 inside points compared to Adamson’s 22. The Lady Bulldogs captured 26 offensive rebounds and 20 second chance points, while the Lady Falcons only mustered 12 and 0 respectively.
However, Adamson shot 35 percent from beyond the arc unlike NU’s dismal 15.38 percent.
Aquino explained, “The big guys are gonna be there. We’ll have scoring inside. The thing that didn’t connect for me was our defense. We let them take shots that they wanted to.”
Up next for NU (10-0) is University of Santo Tomas on October 22, 8:00 AM while Adamson (4-6) faces Ateneo de Manila University on October 23, 10:00 AM. Both games will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The Scores:
NU (79) – Miranda 22, Animam 17, Bernardino 12, Nabalan 9, Camelo 7, Harada 6, Ceno 3, Del Carmen 3.
AdU (61) – Alcoy 15, Araja 11, Prado 8, Osano 7, Pingol 6, Camacho 5, Lacson 4, Cabug 3, Dampios 2, Cacho 0, Rosario 0.
Quarterscores: 17-14, 33-27, 48-49, 79-61.
