King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Candace Parker and a stifling defense lead Tennessee to its eighth NCAA women's title. Plus: Glorious timeout scarcity.

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April 9, 2008 | Candace Parker didn't like what happened when she got a lob pass down low and got stuffed by a Stanford triple-team. She complained over her dislocated left shoulder to an official that she'd been fouled, then went to find the ball, which Tennessee point guard Shannon Bobbitt had ended up with. Parker called for it at the left elbow and Bobbitt obliged.

Parker turned, drove hard to the basket, put up a right-handed scoop shot from the left side as she ran over Stanford center Jayne Appel and the whistle blew. Basket good, foul on Appel. Tennessee led 45-35 with 16:09 to go in the NCAA women's Championship Game.

The TV cameras and microphones caught Parker shouting, "And one! Get off me! Fouled me the first time!" She added the free throw for an 11-point lead.

Parker, the best player in the nation and the no-doubt top pick in Wednesday's WNBA draft, was feeling a lot better about things 12 basketball minutes later. She hit a jumper from the free-throw line with one second on the shot clock and 4:20 on the game clock that gave Tennessee a commanding 58-44 lead. She backpedaled downcourt on defense, smiling, tongue wagging, a second straight championship in the bag.

Stanford was still two minutes away from the end of an 11-minute run in which it scored four points. Tennessee only scored 10 in that time, but that was enough to put away the eighth title for coach Pat Summitt. Tennessee 64, Stanford 48.

Before, after and between those two displays of emotion by Parker, Tennessee dominated the game with pressure defense. Stanford was never able to settle into its offense. The Cardinal turned the ball over 24 times. The Lady Vols racked up 13 steals, eight of them by Nicky Anosike.

It was so bad that when ESPN sideline reporter Rebecca Lobo asked Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer how she planned to get her team to settle down and handle the pressure better, VanDerveer said something you just never hear coaches say unless they're being sarcastic, which VanDerveer was not.

"God, Rebecca," she said, "I have no idea."

VanDerveer said her team was "so discombobulated. Their pressure is causing turnovers that I haven't seen all year. We're just not playing with any offensive flow at all." She excused herself, saying, "I better go in there and talk to 'em."

Whatever she said, it didn't work. Tennessee had broken a 7-7 tie with an 8-0 run that ended with about 11 minutes to go in the first half, and that was roughly the gap for the rest of the game. Stanford closed to within four or five or six a few times, but never seriously threatened.

Next page: The "other" Candice held to 16 points. Plus: A beautiful absence of timeouts