Lady Bulldogs sweep way to outright finals berth

MANILA, Philippines — National University punched an outright ticket to the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball finals, completing a season sweep after mauling the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws, 86-58, Saturday morning at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

The second-seeded University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses, third-seeded Adamson Lady Falcons and fourth-seeded Ateneo Blue Eagles will go through the stepladder route with the 14-0 Lady Bulldogs waiting in the best-of-three Finals.

Cielo Pagdulagan finished with 11 points off the bench to lead NU. Jill Talas added nine markers. 

The Lady Bulldogs dominated right from the get-go, going up 16-0 to start the game after a split from the line by Jainaba Konateh. 

The lead hiked to 22, 29-7, following a Pringle Fabruada jumper, before Victoria Pasilang hit a trey to end the first quarter, 29-10.

FEU cut the lead to 11, 30-41, but an 8-0 blitz capped by an Angel Surada layup pushed the advantage to 19 once again, 49-30.

The 28-point lead at the end of the game was the largest cushion.

Surada and Aloha Betanio added eight points apiece for the Lady Bulldogs. 

Victoria Pasilang led FEU with 18 points and five rebounds, while MJ Manguiat chipped in 15 points but committed 11 turnovers.

“Yes, 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,” NU head coach Aris Dimaunahan told reporters. 

“It gave us the opportunity to be there sa stage na ginugusto namin, para matuloy namin yung chance to battle for a championship,” he added.

This is NU’s 10th consecutive finals appearance. Last year, they lost against UST in the championship round in three games. 

FEU, for its part, ended its season with a 3-11 win-loss record.