spain Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 (edited) Now I know how Unatateve feels: Wednesday, 04/04/07 Rocky Top romp: Lady Vols are champions Seventh title ends a nine-year drought for UT By MIKE ORGAN Staff Writer CLEVELAND — For a team in a drought, Tennessee's women's basketball team made quite a splash Tuesday night. The Lady Vols, who hadn't won a national championship in nine years, bounced back atop of the women's basketball world by overcoming their shooting struggles and methodically disposed of a scrappy but outmatched Rutgers squad 59-46. Many of the 20,704 fans, most wearing orange, at Quicken Loans Arena sensed long before the final horn that the Lady Vols were on their way to capturing their seventh national title. It came 20 years after Tennessee claimed their first title. "This team decided they wanted to be good in the off-season, and they worked really hard, came together, and they've been very, very coachable," Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt said. "We just grew as a team, and our goal all along was to win a national championship. I felt like they were a team that was not going to be denied and was going to do what they had to do to make it happen." What the Lady Vols (34-3) did against Rutgers (27-9) was make it through another sub-par shooting performance (20-of-58 on field goal attempts for 34.5 percent) and win with another stellar defensive effort and by overwhelming Rutgers on the boards. Defense and rebounding The Lady Vols earned the berth in the national title game by holding North Carolina, the nation's top scoring team, to a season-low 50 points in Sunday's semifinals. That defensive effort spilled over against the Scarlet Knights, who never were allowed to settle into an offensive rhythm. The Lady Vols won the rebounding battle 42-34. "Before the game we talked about the importance of playing defense and rebounding the basketball," Summitt said. "I've always believed that rebounding wins championships, and tonight we saw the effort on the boards was significant in this win, and our defensive play was obviously a difference-maker." With 10:08 left to play, Tennessee pulled ahead 46-30 and, other than a brief run by Rutgers, which closed the gap to 50-42, coasted the rest of the way. Lady Vol All-American Candace Parker, who actually looked human on the offensive end where she made just 5-of-15 shots, stepped up after Rutgers narrowed the gap and sank six consecutive free throws building UT's lead back up to 56-44. But Parker, who finished with a team-high 17 points, had plenty of help in this game. Point guard Shannon Bobbitt was the key in helping UT pull away in the second half. Her fourth 3-pointer gave Tennessee a 40-28 lead. And it was center Nicky Anosike who wreaked havoc on the board finishing with 16 rebounds. Plenty of weapons "I've said all year long that we're not a one-person team and you saw that tonight," Parker said. "It's pick your poison against us. You take away one thing or one person and we'll do something else, or someone else with step up." Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer found that to be true. She actually was satisfied with the job her team did on Parker, but embarrassed by how well Bobbitt played. "Candace is capable of a 50-point performance," String-er said. "You are witnessing the best player in the world. There's nobody that comes close to her. But I tell you what broke our backs, it wasn't Candace Parker. We could have withstood that. The person that broke our back was Bobbitt. I was upset because Epiphanny (Prince) came out and we told her the girl has four-point range. What else to we need to say?" Bobbitt, who finished with 13 points, said she "took what the defense was giving me." Kia Vaughn led Rutgers with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Edited April 4, 2007 by spain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 I was pulling for Tenn as I always root for the SEC. With this championship by Tenn that's 4 for the SEC in the last 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Women play college basketball? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Women play college basketball? i guess some people are born without one and go on to lead productive lives....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spain Posted April 4, 2007 Author Share Posted April 4, 2007 Women play college basketball? That sort of depends on definition of "women"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 That sort of depends on definition of "women"... Dude, Candace Parker is pretty hot. Well, more cute than hot but, none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefjay Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 (edited) They sucked Spain in, who's next Furd and H8? Women's BBall Spain? You just compared it to how Unateve feels after the Gator's championship. What's wrong with you man? Unless you are Which now that I think about it is probably the case. Edited April 4, 2007 by chiefjay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 It's like the difference between Skinimax lesbo scenes versus Lifetime lesbo scenes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spain Posted April 4, 2007 Author Share Posted April 4, 2007 They sucked Spain in, who's next Furd and H8? Women's BBall Spain? You just compared it to how Unateve feels after the Gator's championship. What's wrong with you man? Unless you are Which now that I think about it is probably the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 They sucked Spain in, who's next Furd and H8? I watched 20 seconds of women's college basketball once. That's 20 seconds of my life that I can never get back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Unless you are Which now that I think about it is probably the case. Nah. spain war’nt fishin' this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampnuts Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Dude, Candace Parker is pretty hot. Well, more cute than hot but, none the less. I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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