NU belles close in on UAAP three-peat

MANILA, Philippines - Ria Nabalan rifled in two cold-blooded treys in the final minute as National U survived a tough challenge from La Salle, 77-74, to close in on a three-peat in the UAAP LXXIX women’s basketball tourney yesterday at the MOA Arena.

Nabalan’s back-to-back triples gave the defending champion Lady Bulldogs a five-point cushion en route to the head-start in the best-of-three championship series.

The Lady Bulldogs stretched their long-standing win streak to 47 games overall.

“I’d say it’s one of the hardest because we had to come back from as much as 11. It’s really hard that’s why at the end of the game, some of the players were breathing hard already. Maybe it’s just one of those days for us,” said NU coach Patrick Aquino, whose squad can wrap up its treble on Wednesday.

The Lady Archers outplayed the Lady Bulldogs in the second quarter, 20-8, to go up, 39-28 at the break. That served as a wakeup call for NU as it opened the third with an 11-0 blast to draw level and eventually took a 12-point tear.

La Salle staged a rally in the fourth behind the outside snipings of Khate Castillo and Camille Claro and threatened at 70-71 before Nabalan restored control for NU.

“We couldn’t break their press in the first half and they were somehow rattled and tended to be individualistic. So I told them at halftime to just stay focused and play good defense and that’s what they did,” said Aquino.

Nabalan finished with 11 to back up Gemma Miranda’s 23 markers and 15 rebounds and Jack Animam’s 14. MVP Afril Bernardino logged 10 points with eight boards, five assists and five blocks for the Lady Bulldogs.

Castillo (18) and Snow Penaranda (16 markers, 11 caroms, five feeds) led the way for DLSU.