Rosano’s all-around effort falls short as NUNS suffers first defeat

By: Glendale G. Rosal - CDN Digital Correspondent | February 07,2025 - 09:00 PM

Zaydhen Rosano takes a shot despite heavy defense from UST players. | Photo from the UAAP

CEBU CITY, Philippines— Despite a stellar all-around performance from Cebuana rookie sensation Zaydhen Rosano, the National University Nazareth School (NUNS) suffered a tough 75-69 defeat against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Junior Growling Tigresses in the UAAP Season 87 High School Girls’ Basketball tournament on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Rosano showcased her versatility, nearly posting a triple-double with 15 points, 17 rebounds, eight steals, and seven assists, doing everything she could to keep the Lady Bullpups in the fight.

This came after her impressive back-to-back 20-point games for the Lady Bullpups.

However, the former Abellana National School (ANS) standout cager’s efforts fell short against the balanced attack of UST, which completed a sweep of the first round with a 3-0 record.

The Junior Tigresses leaned on the high-scoring duo of Katrina Insoy and Barby Dajao, who led the way with 20 and 19 points, respectively.

Insoy torched the defense with six three-pointers, while Dajao flirted with a quadruple-double, adding nine rebounds, eight steals, and seven assists.

NUNS, which entered the game undefeated, fought tooth and nail until the dying seconds.

After trailing by as many as nine points late in the fourth, the Lady Bullpups tried to mount a comeback behind Rebekkah Pascua and Aubrey Lapasaran, who cut the deficit to five.

However, UST responded with clutch buckets, including a dagger three-pointer from Insoy with 24 seconds left, sealing the victory.

Lapasaran led NUNS in scoring with 22 points but was limited to just two in the final period as UST tightened its defensive grip. Meanwhile, Pascua and Ashlyn Abong each contributed 11 points in the loss.

The Lady Bullpups, now 2-1, will look to bounce back in the second round, hoping to build on Rosano’s strong showing and tighten their execution down the stretch.