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| NU's Rhena Itesi were just too much for La Salle as the Lady Bulldogs go 50 straight. |
QUEZON CITY -- National University woke up from their apparent nightmare on opening day, as they mauled La Salle to go 2-0 in the UAAP Women's Basketball tournament today here at the Big Dome.
A 77-56 mauling by Patrick Aquino's Lady Bulldogs extended their unbeaten run to 50 games dating back in 2014, with the Lady Archers of Pocholo Villanueva fell to 0-2 to join State U at the cellar.
Center Rhena Itesi were head and shoulders above everybody as she led all scorers with 21 points, with guard Ria Nabalan backing her up with 19 in a wire-to-wire victory.
Angelika Figueroa came off the bench to score 15 markers but the smaller La Salle side were left searching for answers to Itesi and Jack Animam, with starting bigs Bernice Paraiso and Joehanna Arciga fouled out in the payoff period.
Right off the opening tip, NU jumped into a 9-0 start en route to a 22-10 lead at the end of the first, with Itesi pouring in 8 points.
However La Salle fought back in the second canto, thanks to an 8-0 run by Alyanna Vergara and Angelika Figueroa to reduce the NU lead to 33-25 at halftime.
But NU bite back in the third with a huge scoring blast by Trixie Antiquera, pulling away by as much as 24 before settling for a 55-36 lead.
The blowout continued in the fourth as the Lady Bulldogs fired an 11-0 finishing run to wake up from an almost nightmare made by UE on opening day.
THE SCORES
NU 77 -- Itesi 21, Nabalan 19, Antiquera 11, Animam 9, Sison 5, Del Carmen 4, Harada 4, Ano-os 2
La Salle 56 -- Figueroa 15, Castillo 11, Torres 6, Javier 5, Jimenez 4, Vergara 4, Paraiso 3, Nuñez 3, Del Campo 3, Arciga 2
Quarter Scores: 22-10, 33-25, 55-36, 77-56
Follow him on Twitter: @KevinLEstrada
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