Kacey Dela Rosa is back-to-back MVP in UAAP Women's Basketball

Ateneo Blue Eagle's center Kacey Dela Rosa has been named Most Valuable Player for the UAAP Season 87 Women's Basketball Tournament. This marks the second year in a row that Dela Rosa has won the MVP award.

Dela Rosa led the league with averages of 22.1 points, 16 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 3.7 blocks per game. This earned her an impressive 96,286 Statistical Points (SPs), which puts her almost 20 SPs ahead of her closest rival, Kent Pastrana of defending champions the University of Santo Tomas, who only had 79.857 SPs.

With this achievement, Dela Rosa joins an elite club of women as only the fifth athlete to win back-to-back MVPs – Cassy Tioseco (Ateneo, Seasons 69-70), Analyn Almazan (Adamson, Seasons 72 and 73), Afril Bernardino (NU, Seasons 77-79), and Grace Irebu (UST, Seasons 81 and 82).

This also means that Ateneo is the only UAAP member school to have produced two back-to-back MVPs.

On receiving her award, Dela Rosa said that while she was happy, she was still not satisfied with some elements of her game.

“Siyempre ako super happy kasi nakuha ko ‘yung back-to-back MVP. [Pero] siguro hindi pa rin ako satisfied kasi marami pa akong kulang sa game ko,” she told reporters after receiving the award ahead of Game 2 of the Finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.

With this in mind, Dela Rosa is looking to come back even stronger next year in the hopes of leading the Blue Eagles to the championship in Season 88 – Ateneo fell to Adamson in the semi-finals in Season 87, finishing only in fourth place.

“Isa lang naman ‘yung goal namin nila coach—’yung championship na sayang hindi namin nakuha this year pero we’ll bounce back next year,” said Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa has been a pivotal, and decorated, part of the Blue Eagles ever since she joined during Season 85. In that Season, she was awarded the Rookie of the Year award by the league.

With this in mind, the Ateneo community congratulates Dela Rosa and prays for greater success for her and the team come next season.

ONE BIG FIGHT