UST Growling Tigresses’ Nikki Villasin comes by means of in clutch to finish NU Girl Bulldogs’ chokehold of the UAAP girls’s basketball competitors. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
MANILA, Philippines—When College of Santo Tomas’ Nikki Villasin sank her fast-break layup with 11.9 seconds left in Sport 3 of the UAAP Season 86 girls’s basketball Finals, she already knew what coming subsequent.
With the rating tied at 69-all, the Growling Tigresses had an opportunity to take the lead in transition and Villasin pounced on that opening with a simple breakaway bucket to take a 71-69 lead.
She didn’t doubt that after she made the shot the sport was already over.
“Truthfully, it simply acquired actually quiet. It was like me and the basket and I noticed my teammates, they gave me a fast look and I scanned the ground. I used to be like, ‘If I make this, it’s over,’” stated Villasin as she recalled her game-winning shot.
“Proper when it went by means of the ring and I regarded again, I used to be like, ‘oh my God, we simply received.’ As a result of I knew we had been going to play protection, I had little question about our protection.”
Nikki Villasin sends a fastbreak layup to go in…
However this wasn’t simply any layup. This was the shot that broke the 69-all impasse to carry UST the title. #UAAPSeason86 | @MeloFuertesINQ pic.twitter.com/ka0qRDpNnP
— INQUIRER Sports activities (@INQUIRERSports) December 6, 2023
Like prophecy, Villasin’s ideas become actuality: her basket turned out to be the nail within the Girl Bulldogs’ coffin to provide UST the Season 86 title after her workforce rallied from 15 factors down late within the third.
The Filipino-American’s bucket additionally snapped NU’s lengthy and dominant seven-peat title streak within the UAAP. He completed with 12 factors, 4 rebounds and two assists.
UST Growling Tigresses have a good time UAAP Ladies’s basketball crown. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
So as to add much more weight to Villasin’s heroics, UST’s newfound title broke its tie with Far Japanese College for essentially the most variety of championships in girls’s basketball.
A big a part of Villasin’s efficiency might be credited to her belief in coach Haydee Ong.
“I texted her and I stated, ‘y’know I acquired you it doesn’t matter what. I informed her I’ll work on it [shot]. This season, we’re going to complete it robust so it was very fulfilling.”
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“I shoot that shot day-after-day in follow. So I knew and I additionally noticed that shot a very long time in the past in my head after I got here right here within the Philippines and I wished to win within the UAAP.”
Villasin ended her collegiate stint after two seasons with the Growling Tigresses.