A night after a thrilling end to the men's NCAA basketball season, the women take to the floor in Tampa to settle their champion as No. 1 Tennessee (35-2) plays No. 2 Stanford (35-3), with the Vols slight betting favorites at WagerWeb.com.
You have to figure the better Candace/Candice will prove the difference tonight: The Vols' Parker, the two-time Naismith Award winner, or the Cardinal's Wiggins, the 2008 winner of the Wade Trophy as player of the year. They are good friends, as well.
The Vols' Candace Parker is so good, she's leaving school early for the WNBA. But she also is fighting through a separated shoulder suffered a week ago.
"The stiffness from [Sunday] was tough this morning, but it feels great," Parker said Monday after accepting the Naismith Player of the Year Award. "One more game. Just get through it and worry about it later."
Parker was just 6-for-27 in the 47-46 Final Four win over LSU, the worst shooting performance of her career (she did have 15 rebounds).
The Vols shot 30.4 percent from the field and 2-for-7 from the free-throw line. They survived despite failing to score at least 50 points for the first time in 908 games over the past 26 years.
Alexis Hornbuckle scored the winning basket against LSU on a putback. Shannon Bobbitt scored 11 points, and Alberta Auguste added 10. Hornbuckle is averaging 10.1 points, while Bobbitt is averaging 9.8 points.
Tennessee also has two other players averaging more than eight points.
But it was Parker who led Tennessee to its seventh national title a year ago and will have to lead the way for the Lady Vols to become the first repeat champs since Connecticut won three straight from 2002-04.Stanford's Candice Wiggins, meanwhile, led the Cardinal to its first Final Four in 11 years and the Cardinal have the nation's longest winning streak at 23 games. The Pac-10 champs haven't lost since dropping consecutive road games to UCLA and USC in the first week of January.
Wiggins has been the top player of this NCAA Tournament, averaging a tournament-high 27.4 points, and she cored 25 with 13 rebounds and five assists in the Cardinal's 82-73 victory over top-ranked Connecticut in the national semifinals.
Wiggins had a tournament-high 44 points in Stanford's second-round win over Texas-El Paso and then added 41 points as the Cardinal beat top-seeded Maryland in the Regional final.
The Cardinal have a deeper frontcourt than the Vols, led by Jayne Appel (15.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and Kayla Pedersen (12.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg), who must duplicate their superb postseason efforts to give Stanford a chance to win its third title.
Stanford and Tennessee met Dec. 22 at Stanford, with the Cardinal winning 73-69 in overtime.
"I remember the Stanford game like it was yesterday," Parker said. "We talk about how it ruined our Christmas and ending the year on a loss."
Wiggins scored 22 and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude scored nine of Stanford's 10 points in OT to end the Cardinal's 11-game skid in the series. Parker had 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals.
"For us, the confidence of beating Tennessee is huge," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I'm sure Pat (Summitt) might pull out that tape."
The Cardinal are trying to be the second team in four seasons to beat three No. 1s on the way to the title. Baylor did it in 2005. Tennessee, meanwhile, is 7-5 in championship games.
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