Freshman Cielo Pagdulagan scored the go-ahead basket before Camille Clarin delivered a defensive gem as unbeaten National University (NU) moved a win away from claiming the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 women’s basketball title.

Displaying resilience and great resolve, the Lady Bulldogs came back from 14 points down in the third quarter before making clutch plays in the endgame to down defending champion University of Santo Tomas (UST), 72-71, in Game 1 of the best-of-three series Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Pagdulagan charged hard to the basket from the left corner off a give-and-go play from Karl Pingol to give NU a 72-71 lead with 50.3 seconds remaining.

Clarin preserved the victory by locking down defensively on last year’s Game 3 hero Kent Pastrana, forcing her to kickout to Tacky Tacatac, who missed a left corner three as time expired.

NU, which won its 15th straight game despite a rusty start and committing 31 turnovers, shoots to complete a season sweep on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“Again, we know for a fact that it’s a short series and the mindset of our team was very important to get game one,” Lady Bulldogs coach Aris Dimaunahan said.

Pingol, who kept NU afloat in the opening half dominated by the Growling Tigresses, had 18 points and nine rebounds. Clarin, who finally got back at Pastrana after a costly defensive against her during the series decider last year that denied the Lady Bulldogs of an eight-peat, finished with 12 points.

Angelica Surada and Pagdulagan, who is set to receive her Rookie of the Year award in Game 2, contributed with nine points each for NU.

The Lady Bulldogs got off to a slow start after a two-week layoff following its elimination round sweep.

UST pounced on the sluggish top seed in the first half, scoring 25 points off NU’s 22 turnovers to enter the intermission with a 46-37 advantage.

“We ingrained in their minds that we should not look at the results right away. Let the results take care of itself and our mindset was to play the game possession per possession. That’s the mindset before the jumpball. But for some reason, during the first half, we gave them 22 turnovers. So, that’s very uncharacteristic of a thing for us,” Dimaunahan said.

“Though we were down by big for the most part, nobody veered away from what we tried to do today. Especially during the second half.”

The Lady Bulldogs patiently chipped away the Tigresses’ lead in the third before igniting a 9-0 blitz to enter the payoff period tied at 57.

Eka Soriano put UST on top, 69-65, after back-to-back sinking baskets only for NU to get back in front, 70-69, with 1:38 left after a split by Gypsey Canuto from the foul line.

Bridgette Santos scored the Tigresses’ last taste of the lead, 71-69, with 54.5 seconds left from underneath the basket off a nifty baseline inbound pass from Soriano.

Pastrana led UST with 22 points and six rebounds while Santos had 12 points.

The score:

NU (72) — Pingol 18, Clarin 12, Surada 9, Pagdulagan 9, Fabruada 8, Betanio 6, Konateh 6, Cayabyab 3, Canuto 1, Villanueva 0, Solis 0.

UST (71) — Pastrana 22, Santos 12, Tacatac 8, Soriano 7, Maglupay 7, Ambos 7, Bron 6, Sierba 2, Danganan 0, Serrano 0.

Quarters: 16-26, 37-46, 57-57, 72-71.