NU Lady Bulldogs near UAAP crown

Ria Nabalan hit back-to-back triples in the final minute and National University (NU) scuttled La Salle’s late rally, 77-74, yesterday to move a win shy of capturing its third straight crown in the opener of the UAAP women’s basketball finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Nabalan fired her first three from the left elbow after the Lady Archers converted four consecutive triples to pulled within 71-70, before coming through yet again from almost the same spot to extend the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to 77-72, and eventually come away with a hardfought victory.

She finished with 11 points despite missing eight of her 11 attempts from rainbow territory as the Lady Bulldogs extended their winning run to 47 games dating back to the start of their title reign in 2014.

NU can retain the title with a victory when the best-of-three series resumes on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“They thought they were leading by 30 points, it’s a good thing that Ria Nabalan hit those threes,” said NU coach Pat Aquino, whose team played flat in its first game since sweeping the 14-game eliminations more than two weeks ago.

Gemma Miranda had 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, Jack Aninam produced 14 points and eight rebounds while Rhena Itesi added 11 points and eight boards for the Lady Bulldogs.

Khate Castillo, who fired three straight triples to ignite the Lady Archers comeback in the fourth, finished with 18 points in a losing effort.

The Lady Bulldogs found themselves trailing 39-28 at half, but scored 11 straight points to start the third, then took a 54-43 lead on a three by Je-Anne Camelo with 1:43 remaining in the same period.