National University (NU) gets a chance to reclaim the throne after booking an 86-58 win over Far Eastern University (FEU) to coast to the finals of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 87 women’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Meanwhile, reigning champion University of Santo Tomas (UST) sizzled early, setting the tone for a 70-52 win over De La Salle University heading into the first round of the stepladder semifinals.
The Growling Tigresses held the Lady Archers to just three points in the opening period to dictate the tempo and set the stage for an impressive 18-point blowout.
The victory marks the Lady Bulldogs’ 10th consecutive finals appearance, only losing in its first title back in Season 76 to La Salle and last season to UST.
The Lady Bulldogs swept the eliminations and forced a stepladder semifinals for the first time since Season 82. They lost to La Salle in Season 85 second round and University of the Philippines in Season 86 first round to have a traditional Final Four.
“The goal is to have the opportunity to go back to the Finals and with this win, we finally got it but the work doesn’t stop there. It just gave us the opportunity to be in a stage where we want to be, which is to win another championship,”said NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan, emphasizing that the job is not done.
NU never really gave an inch to FEU right from the start, racing to a 16-0 advantage and a 29-10 count at the end of the first quarter, where eight Lady Bulldogs contributed at least two points.
The Lady Bulldogs exhibited their insane depth as all 14 players fielded scored at least two points led by Cielo Pagdulagan — their lone double-digit scorer — with 11 points.
Jill Talas added nine points, the duo of Aloha Betanio and Angel Surada got eight apiece, while the quartet of Daniella Alterado, Pringle Fabruada, Jainaba Konateh and Nicole Pring had seven points each.
Ball movement was key to NU’s triumph, making 32 assists out of its 33 made field goals.
FEU finished its campaign at seventh place with a 3-11 record — the same exact card it had last season.