National University’s depth proved to be too much for young Adamson University, taking a dominant 95-65 on the latter’s home floor and extending its streak to four in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday.
Sophomore big Tin Cayabyab led the defending seven-time champions with 22 points behind 6-of-9 shooting from the three-point line.
Meanwhile, third-year winger Camille Clarin followed her lead with 18 points. She also had three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
The Lady Bulldogs improved their standing to 6-1 in second place, half a game behind league leader UP.
The Fighting Maroons have a 6-0 slate and are facing Ateneo de Manila University as of publishing.
For coach Aris Dimaunahan, the Lady Bulldogs’ four-game winning streak – which has seen them average wins by 25.5 points – was the best response they could give after their 69-72 loss to University of the Philippines last October 8.
“That speaks about our character,” said Dimaunahan. “Again, we slid on our game against UP but the real value of our team is how we bounced back after that game. I thought that we conducted ourselves the way we should and for the next four games, we won games convincingly.”
NU started to really pick things up in the second half.
Up by 13 points during the halftime break, the Lady Bulldogs shifted gears in the third quarter.
Clarin, Stefanie Berbarabe, Princess Fabruada, Marylene Solis – and Cayabyab’s two straight threes – erected a 68-45 cushion with 2:47 to go in the period.
The Lady Bulldogs then coasted until the final buzzer.
Cayabyab and Clarin converted back-to-back triples while Solis, Daniella Alterado, and Fabruada put the finishing touches.
Together, they gave NU its biggest lead of the ballgame at 91-59 with 1:50 remaining in the game.
“The challenge today was to finish the first round convincingly, smartly, and strongly,” said Dimaunahan. “That was the message to our team since yesterday. I thought we did a great job today in holding their back-to-back wins and continuing ours.”
Supporting Cayabyab and Clarin were Aloja Betanio (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), Ann Pingol (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals), and Angel Surada (10 rebounds, 4 points, 5 assists, 3 steals).
One-and-done NU guard Berbarabe also had another solid as the NU’s primary court general. She scored four points and made seven assists, six rebounds, and six steals without committing a single turnover.
Error-prone were the Lady Falcons for the entire 40-minute affair, committing 30 turnovers that led to 32 points.
Adamson saw its two-game winning streak snapped and it ended the first round tied at fifth to seventh place with a 2-5 record.
Victoria Adeshina led the Lady Falcons with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Kim Limbago and Ann Dampios had nine points each.
The Scores:
NU 95 – Cayabyab 22, Clarin 18, Betanio 11, Pingol 11, Fabruada 8, Canuto 5, Berbarabe 4, Surada 4, Bartolo 4, Alterado 4, Solis 4, Talas 0, Alcantara 0, Konateh 0, Magbanua 0, Ico 0.
AdU 65 – Adeshina 15, Limbago 9, Dampios 9, Etang 6, Alaba 6, Mazo 5, Meniano 4, Apag 3, Tano 3, Agojo 3, Calvert 2, Bajo 0, Dumelod 0, Cortez 0, Carcallas 0.
Quarterscores: 23-17, 46-33, 73-53, 95-65.
