Lady Bulldogs breeze past Lady Warriors, sweep first round

MANILA, Philippines — National University hardly broke a sweat, running away early before taking the 109-54 victory over University of the East to complete the first round sweep of the 82nd UAAP women's basketball tournament Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Bulldogs jumped the gun and used a telling 37-3 first quarter barrage to set the tone for their seventh win this season and extend their historic win streak to 87 games.

Fresh from her Gilas Women stint, Jack Animam poured 20 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, an assist and a steal to lead NU.

"Mukhang ready naman sila to step up. We thought Jack will not be able to play, but she surprised us," said assistant coach Julie Amos, who called the shots for coach Pat Aquino who is still in India for the 2019 Fiba Women's Asia Cup.

Animam, for her part, commented: "Kung di naman dahil sa kanila, di ko magagawa yun. Kahit pagod kami, nandoon pa rin yung tiwala nila kaya sinusuklian ko lang yun."

Congolese center Rhena Itesi also dropped 20 points and 14 boards, while Mikka Cacho added 11 points and three assists as all 14 Lady Bulldogs were able to score at least three in the game.

It was all NU as its lead further swelled to as high as 58, 105-47, after a Melody Cac jumper with 2:17 left in the game.

As much as the Lady Bulldogs are halfway through their quest for a sixth title, Amos reiterated that there are still a lot of things they can improve on.

"We're happy na maganda ang turnout namin but there's still a lot of improvements," she said. "We have to be ready, everybody's on our back, so dapat on our toes din kami."

Joyce Terrinal paced the Lady Warriors (1-6) with 21 points and four rebounds, while Jearzy Ganade got a double-double of 12 points, 10 boards, and eight assists, but she committed 10 turnovers in the process.

The scores:

NU 109 — Animam 20, Itesi 20, Cacho 11, Cac 8, Harada 8, Clarin 7, Bartolo 6, Pingol 6, Surada 6, Del Carmen 4, Fabruada 4, Canuto 3, Goto 3, Hayes 3.

UE 54 — Terrinal 21, Ganade 12, Cuadero 8, Cortizano 7, Nama 4, Raymundo 2, Caraig 0, Ordas 0, Pedregosa 0, Tinio 0.

Quarterscores: 37-3, 61-19, 92-40, 109-54.