NU, AdU down rivals in Dickies opener

MANILA, Philippines — National U and Adamson U turned back Ateneo and Army, respectively, to launch their title bids in the PCABL seventh Dickies women’s basketball tournament at the Buddhacare gym in Quezon City recently.

NU struggled most of the way but came through with clutch plays midway in the fourth quarter to repulse Ateneo, 70-60, while AdU drew a combined 39-point effort from Nathalia Prado and Jamie Alcoy to hold off Army, 67-60, at the start of the event presented by Dickies.

Priming up for their UAAP title defense, the NU girls started strong, wavered a bit but toughened up in the end to survive Ateneo’s fierce comeback.

Rhena Itesi scored 18 points for NU, which also got six points or more from five other players in a big start in the tournament supported by EuroMed, Multimotors Auto Parts, CW Home Depot, Choi Garden Restaurant and Blackwater.

Jhazmin Joson and Alysa Villamor paced the Lady Eagles with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Air Force, meanwhile, rode on the 41-point explosion of veteran Cindy Resultay to beat University of the Philippines, 78-73.

Resultay hit 9-of-11 from the field aside from grabbing 17 boards and dishing off three assists.

Meantime, the game between the Philippine Under-18 team and last year’s runner-up University of the East was cancelled last Wednesday due to bad weather.