Lady Vols Advance to the Final Four!!

I know all you reading this are dying to know what happened in the game...

Tennessee came out looking very strong. The commentators were talking about how Tennessee had 7 National Championships, had been to the final game 7 out of last 8 years, have won 101 games in the NCAA tournament to Texas A&M's 6. This was definitely a David against Goliath even though Texas A&M has a great team this year. This was the first year A&M had made it this far in the tournament. They had held their opponents to %30 shooting in all of their games this season, but Tennesse in the first half was already hitting was hitting 78% of what they were shooting.

Candice Parker, who is just a Jr., is Tennessee's newest superstar and they say she is the female equivalent to a Michael Jordan. She is very tall and very athletic. She can vertically jump higher than anyone in Women's college basketball, and she can shoot from anywhere on the court in any position.

That being said Tennessee was beginning to slightly pull away mid-way through the first half. They certainly weren't running over Texas A&M though, A&M had still made it to the elite 8. Anyway, Candice Parker in true form was blocking and rebounding everything in her reach, but on one successful steal as Tennessee was really beginning to make a substantial run and take a big lead, Candice Parker reached her arm in, got the ball and began to dribble down the court when she finally had to stop and began wincing and holding her left arm. She had knocked her left shoulder out of socket. It looked horrible.

The training staff popped it back in and she was back in within just a few minutes... but that didn't last for long. Once you pop your arm out of socket, it loosens the joint making it more likely to happen again... And it did happen again while reaching up to block a pass and she was pulled out of the game and sent to the locker room.

With her being out of the game made it was a much more even playing field. I began to imagine the ribbing I would take for years to come if Tennessee didn't win this game. I am much kinder when my team wins. They took Candice Parker back to the training room and did some therapy on her, while Tennessee and Texas A&M played a pretty even game, with Tennessee actually struggling to stay ahead. Candice finally came back out in the second half with a brace on her shoulder and came back into the game. You could tell she was not %100 percent. She missed a few baskets from awkward angles under the basket, but these were baskets she normally could make in her sleep, but just having her presence and long arms to help blocking helped the team.

She got fouled a number of times and made %60 her free throws even though you could see her wincing every time her left arm went up in the air with the follow-through. She basically played the last quarter of the game at about %50... but having her at %50 was better than anyone else at %100. At one point Texas A&M took the lead, but the rest of the Tennesse team rallied around Candice, and with their experience and leadership in the last couple of minutes Sr. Horbuckle's 3 point shot from the "parking lot" pretty much solidified the lead. :-) The Lady Vols looked very relieved at the buzzer to have made it to the next round.

I am so proud to be a Lady Vol! Sorry Honey...