University of the East – Cherrylume shattered National University’s invincibility with a stunning 61-55 victory to grab the solo lead in the 1st Rexona Women’s Invitational Tournament held over the weekend at the Buddhacare gym in Quezon City.
With Chack Cabinbin and Janine Pontejos at the helm, the Lady Red Warriors outplayed the Lady Bulldogs in a tight fourth quarter contest to extend their winning run to five games while handing the reigning UAAP champions their first defeat also in five games.
It was also NU’s first defeat since winning its first UAAP title that led to a historic three-peat that saw them win 48 straight games in the premier collegiate league.
Cabinbin made only 4 of 12 attempts from the field but converted all but one of 9 charities to finish with 16 points aside from tallying seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in her best games so far.
Pontejos and LJ Sto, Domingo combined for 21 points and 12 boards apart from providing the defensive pressure that threw NU’s other top guns out of their comfort zone.
Meantime, Air Force, one of the two clubs taking part in the tournament presented by Rexona and organized by PCABL, improved to 4-1 with a 61-45 beating of Adamson-Mighty Sports – thanks to the hot shooting of veterans Cindy Resultay and Kristine Abriam.
In other games, Centro Escolar University notched its second win in five starts by downing Discovery Sports, 59-56, while Far Eastern University matched CEU’s record with 70-44 drubbing of still winless University of the Philippines.
Demi Villanueva led CEU with 24 points while Allana Lim and Valerie Mamaril shared the scoring honors for FEU with 13 points each in the pre-season tournament.