Beating tornmentor La Salle makes 7th straight UAAP title sweeter for NU Bulldogs

NU Lady Bulldogs celebrate winning the UAAP women’s basketball championship. –UAAP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Other than winning its seventh straight women’s basketball championship, National University is also ecstatic to receive it at the expense of La Salle.

The Lady Archers served as the Bulldogs’ top antagonist this Season 85 as they broke the team’s historic 108-game winning streak in November, 61-57, in overtime.

It was the first time NU lost since Season 76, dating back to 2014.

The streak fueled the winning culture in women’s basketball so having it snapped motivated the girls extra hard to make more history by winning seven straight titles.

“I think it [championship] just feels that much better because it was the team that handed us our first loss. But these two games, we’re able to prove the fact that we’re still the team on top, we’re still the team to beat,” Camille Clarin said after beating the Lady Archers for the championship on Sunday, 76-64.

Clarin finished the game with eight points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

The Lady Bulldogs conquered La Salle with a sweep of the best-of-three final, as they defeated the second-seeded team in Game 1, 93-61.

One of the biggest factors in NU’s seventh straight title is undoubtedly Kristine Cayabyab, who went home with the Finals MVP plum.

She finished game two with a team-high 18 markers and five boards with two assists, two steals and one block.

Cayabyab also emphasized the loss against La Salle in the elimination round was important as it helped them glue together better to win the league’s elusive “seven-peat.”

“One of the things I can’t forget about this season is our loss against them [DLSU]. It’s like, that’s where we helped each other more to get this championship. We became more together after that loss,” Cayabyab said.

The best player of the Finals series also said the award she got was not on her bucket list but is still thankful.

“This award was unexpected because it’s really not in my mindset. All I want to happen this season is to improve on things I need to improve.”

The Lady Bulldogs’ ‘seven-peat’ tied the longest dynasty in UAAP basketball, matching the record of University of the East men’s basketball team, led by Robert Jaworski, from 1965 to 1971.