MANILA -- National University flaunted its depth in a 95-65 demolition of Adamson University in the UAAP Season 86 women's basketball tournament, Saturday at the Adamson Gym.

Tin Cayabyab led the defending seven-time champions with 22 points, built on 6-of-9 shooting from long range, while Camille Clarin followed her lead with 18 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

The Lady Bulldogs improved their standing to 6-1. Since a shock loss to University of the Philippines in their third game, NU has won four straight matches by an average margin of 25.5 points.

"That speaks about our character," said NU coach Aris Dimaunahan. "Again, we slid on our game against UP but the real value of our team is how we bounced back after that game. I thought that we conducted ourselves the way we should and for the next four games, we won games convincingly."

Already ahead by 13 points at the halftime break, the Lady Bulldogs poured it on in the third period as Clarin, Stefanie Berbarabe, Princess Fabruada, Marylene Solis, and Cayabyab’s two straight threes erected a 68-45 cushion with 2:47 to go in the period.

The Lady Bulldogs then coasted until the final buzzer.

Cayabyab and Clarin converted back-to-back triples while Solis, Daniella Alterado, and Fabruada put the finishing touches, giving NU its biggest lead of the ballgame at 91-59 with 1:50 remaining in the game.

"The challenge today was to finish the first round convincingly, smartly, and strongly," said Dimaunahan. "That was the message to our team since yesterday. I thought we did a great job today in holding their back-to-back wins and continuing ours."

Supporting Cayabyab and Clarin were Aloja Betanio (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), Ann Pingol (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals), and Angel Surada (10 rebounds, 4 points, 5 assists, 3 steals).
One-and-done NU guard Berbarabe also had another solid outing as the NU’s primary court general, scoring four points and making seven assists, six rebounds, and six steals without committing a single turnover.

The Lady Falcons were plagued by errors for the entire 40-minute affair, committing 30 turnovers that led to 32 points.

Adamson saw its two-game winning streak snapped and it ended the first round tied at fifth to seventh place with a 2-5 record.

Victoria Adeshina led the Lady Falcons with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Kim Limbago and Ann Dampios had nine points each.

The Scores:

NU 95 - Cayabyab 22, Clarin 18, Betanio 11, Pingol 11, Fabruada 8, Canuto 5, Berbarabe 4, Surada 4, Bartolo 4, Alterado 4, Solis 4, Talas 0, Alcantara 0, Konateh 0, Magbanua 0, Ico 0.

AdU 65 - Adeshina 15, Limbago 9, Dampios 9, Etang 6, Alaba 6, Mazo 5, Meniano 4, Apag 3, Tano 3, Agojo 3, Calvert 2, Bajo 0, Dumelod 0, Cortez 0, Carcallas 0.

Quarterscores: 23-17, 46-33, 73-53, 95-65.