Lady Bulldogs dominate Lady Falcons to stay unbeaten

MANILA, Philippines -- Still undefeated. And still dominant.

The National University Lady Bulldogs zoomed to their fifth straight win in the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament after mauling the Adamson Lady Falcons, 74-52, Wednesday afternoon at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Angel Surada finished with 14 points, six rebounds, four steals, three assists and a block for NU. Princess Fabruada and Tin Cayabyab added 12 and 11, respectively.

After leading by just six at the half, 33-27, the Lady Bulldogs unleashed a 15-2 run to break the game wide open, 48-29.

It was enough separation as NU breezed through to the final buzzer.

The lead grew to as big as 24 points, 70-46, after consecutive baskets by Maymay Canuto, Surada and Pingol.

“Going into this game, the goal was after the final buzzer, we want to keep the final spot because we know for a fact that Adamson was also gunning for the top spot,” NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan said after the game.

“That was the challenge for us going into this game. We kind of started slow, and we needed that halftime break to somehow wake the players up,” he added.

Victoria Adeshina had a double-double performance of 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs. Cris Padilla and Elaine Etang chipped in 10 apiece.

Earlier in the day, Luisa San Juan waxed hot from beyond the arc and unleashed a record-setting 10 3-pointers in a single game to tow the La Salle Lady Archers over the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws, 89-65.

San Juan made 10 of 20 3-pointers, which is the most in the women’s division. She broke the record formerly held by La Salle’s Khate Castillo back in 2017.

Her 10 triples also tied the overall UAAP event record for most in a game, along with NU’s Jeff Napa and University of the East’s Allan Caidic.

San Juan finished with 34 points, which also tied the season-high set by Ateneo’s Kacey dela Rosa about two weeks ago.

“I got my confidence from my teammates and my coaches. They believed in me, and the trust that they give me, ‘yun ang pinaka malaking bagay for me,” she said.

“I don’t know the records, but I’m grateful. I wasn’t expecting that, I just do my role and I think it starts with what Coach Cholo [Villanueva] tells us.”

La Salle finally broke through in the season after absorbing a 65-47 loss against University of the East last Sunday, 65-47, which broke the Lady Red Warriors’ five-year losing streak.

The Lady Red Archers saw their 16-point lead trimmed to just four in the fourth quarter, before San Juan, Tricia Mendoza and Kyla Sunga conspired in an 18-2 run to seal the victory.

Mendoza and Sunga chipped in double-doubles, with the former producing 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the latter posting 14 markers and 15 boards.

MJ Manguiat paced the Lady Tamaraws with 19 points.