Tennessee waltzes off with one more title

CLEVELAND —  All is right again in women’s basketball.

Tennessee, ending a nine-year break between titles, once again rules the collegiate game after rolling to a 59-46 victory over upstart Rutgers on Tuesday night in Quicken Loans Arena to win its seventh NCAA championship.

Although Coach Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols have reached the Final Four six times in the last nine seasons, Tennessee had not won a national title since 1998, losing to Connecticut in the championship game in 2000, 2003 and 2004.

The drought ended behind a determined All-American, sophomore Candace Parker, who said before the game that despite her numerous accolades her legacy would not be cemented until she won a national championship.

“Our banner’s going to be in the rafters forever,” a smiling Parker announced after scoring a team-high 17 points. “We’ve left our mark on Tennessee.”

The Lady Vols also left their mark on Rutgers, which in its first championship-game appearance was trying to become the lowest-seeded team to win the women’s title and hoped to give Coach C. Vivian Stringer her first championship.

The Scarlet Knights, seeded fourth in the Greensboro Regional before upsetting top-seeded Duke en route to the Final Four, trailed at halftime, 29-18, and never really threatened from that point as Tennessee built its lead to 16 points.

“What can I say? Tennessee played great,” said Stringer, who guided Cheyney State to the first NCAA women’s final in 1982 but hadn’t been back since. “We needed to come out maybe a little more aggressive and it might have made a difference. But it’s all credit to Tennessee. They have a great team.”

Parker, the national player of the year, was far from dominant, missing 10 of her 15 shots and taking seven rebounds, three fewer than her average. But she made seven of 10 free throws, six in a row in the last two minutes.

And Tennessee (34-3) got big efforts from several others: center Nicky Anosike pulled down 16 rebounds, helping the Lady Vols to a 42-34 edge on the boards; point guard Shannon Bobbitt scored 13 points, making four of eight three-point shots; Sidney Spencer scored 11 points; and reserve Alberta Auguste scored 10.

Of course, Rutgers paid so much attention to 6-foot-4 Parker that it created opportunities for her willing teammates.

“All year it’s been pick your poison,” Parker said. “I think if you take one option away, we have four others and I was just proud at how everybody came together and fought and made corrections and adjustments -- and we just took it to them.”

Kia Vaughn led Rutgers (27-9) with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but none of her teammates scored in double figures.

The Scarlet Knights outshot the Lady Vols, 41% to 35%, but Tennessee took 24 offensive rebounds, 10 by Anosike, and scored 22 second-chance points.

“They killed us on the boards, and it was a matter of not blocking out,” Stringer said. “Blocking out is an effort thing that anybody and everybody can do....

“Maybe we realized that it was a national championship game. We looked like we were a deer stuck in the headlights, simple as that. And by the time we rocked from that, just decided to settle down, it was too late.

“And I’m sorry about that for the players ... and so many others.”

Rutgers closed to within 35-28 midway through the second half before 5-foot-2 Bobbitt, the shortest player on the court, made two consecutive three-point shots to start an 11-2 run that was capped by another three-pointer by the junior.

“I just took what the defense gave me,” Bobbitt said.

And women’s basketball’s dominant program took another title.

“This is not about winning No. 7,” Summitt said afterward. “This is about this team winning its first. For me tonight, it was all about helping this team ... because I really believed this team deserved to be national champions.”

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Lucky seven

Tennessee’s seven NCAA women’s basketball championship-game victories:

* 1987 -- defeated Louisiana Tech, 67-44

* 1989 -- defeated Auburn, 76-60

* 1991 -- defeated Virginia, 70-67 (OT)

* 1996 -- defeated Georgia, 83-65

* 1997 -- defeated Old Dominion, 68-59

* 1998 -- defeated Louisiana Tech, 93-75

* 2007 -- defeated Rutgers, 59-46