The National University Lady Bulldogs continued their dominance of the UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball tournament with an 80-69 win over the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws.
Jack Daniel Animam led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points and 14 rebounds. today at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Aminam was followed by Gemma Miranda who produced 16 points.
NU raced to a 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. With the scores tied at 19-19 early in the second quarter, the Lady Bulldogs enacted an incredible 14-0 run capped off by Miranda to lead 33-19.
Just before the break, a Ria Nabalan trey gave the Lady Bulldogs a 44-23 cushion on top of the Lady Tamaraws at halftime.
“You have to start good and finish stronger. You cannot just start slow again, get your groove. I need to address that and I did address it in the first half. More on adjusting on my part and the coaching staff in how to motivate the players,” shared NU mentor Patrick Aquino.
The Lady Bulldogs lead then ballooned to their biggest lead of the ballgame at 56-26 courtesy of a Bernardino basket in the third quarter’s opening minutes.
Despite the huge deficit, the Lady Tamaraws didn’t give up the fight and markers from Loraine Ventura, Yetunde Okunlola, and Joannah Ouano cut the Lady Bulldogs lead to 64-41 at the end of the third quarter.
Come the fourth quarter, though, FEU raised its intensity to make the score more respectable. The Lady Tamaraws outscored the Lady Bulldogs 28-16 as an Ouano trey cut NU’s lead to 78-65.
Two free throws from FEU’s Judy Abat then trimmed the lead to 11 points. Nevertheless, NU won 80-69 over FEU . The Lady Bulldogs are now undefeated for 38 consecutive games.
Aquino explained, “I was just giving chances to my second and third group. We played bad at the end probably due to a lack of focus on their part, but on my part I want them to develop, have that experience playing. We’ll need them and they need to be playing at par with the first five.”
NU shot 78.57 percent from the free throw area compared to FEU’s 69.23 percent. The Lady Bulldogs also manned the boards better with 47 rebounds compared to the Lady Tamaraws’ 31.
Valerie Mamaril led FEU with 20 points
NU (6-0) will finish the first round against University of Santo Tomas at 10:00 AM, while FEU (2-4) will do the same against UP at 8:00AM. Both games will be held at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
NU (80) – Animam 17, Miranda 16, Nabalan 15, Bernardino 13, Camelo 6, Del Carmen 5, Itesi 4, Harada 2, Layug 2, Ceno 0, Lopez 0, Taneza 0, Malana 0, Rebadulla 0.
FEU (69) – Mamaril 20, Gerner 11, Arellado 10, Okunlola 8, Ventura 5, Ouano 5, Balleser 4, Capua 2, Payadon 2, Abat 2, Jumuad 0, Vidal 0, Bahuyan 0, Quiapo 0.
Quarterscores: 19-16, 44-23, 64-41, 80-69.
