DEFENDING champions NU Lady Bulldogs were defeated by UP Fighting Maroons, 72-69 in the UAAP Season 86 women’s basketball tournament on Sunday at UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
The long-struggling University of the Philippines women’s basketball team were able to snap a 12-year losing streak to the defending champions, the NU Lady Bulldogs.
Favour Onoh, a Nigerian foreign student athlete standout at UP, led the team with 18 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks, and four steals.
UP built a 12-point lead at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs stormed back in the third quarter to take a 50-49 heading into the final period.
During the last moments of the fourth quarter, UP’s Kaye Pesquera grabbed the loose ball on the floor with 24.7 seconds left on the clock.
Ann Pingol, however, was able to steal the ball from Pesquera and attempted a layup, but it rimmed out as the Fighting Maroons grabbed the rebound and called timeout.
Pesquera was able to milk the clock before being sent to the free throw line with 6.2 seconds remaining in the game, where she made the first attempt but missed the second, resulting in a 70-67 score.
With 2.5 seconds left, the Lady Bulldogs got the rebound, but Christie Bariquit stole it back and passed it to Louna Ozar for the game-finishing points.
The UP Fighting improved its unbeaten streak to three games at 3-0 while pulling the Lady Bulldogs down to 2-1, and now joins the Ateneo de Manila University at third.
UP hopes to extend their streak as it goes for 4-0 versus Far Eastern University on Wednesday at the Adamson Gym. NU, on the other hand, will meet the still-undefeated University of Santo Tomas.
