Wow.
There wasn't much else to say about the first half Candace Parker put together in Tennessee's 98-62 victory over Mississippi in the Dayton Regional final Tuesday night.
Parker dominated on the offensive and defensive ends of the court and put together a stat line that would've looked great for a full game.
She had 14 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, three steals, three assists. She was 6-for-8 from the field and the Lady Vols were up 51-22 at halftime. About the only blemish was a warning from an official for staring at an Ole Miss player after blocking a shot.
"Candace is a player who is extremely hungry to win a championship," Ole Miss coach Carol Ross said. "It's been well documented that she doesn't want to be compared with other great Tennessee players until she wins a championship. Her talent has always been there, and always will be, but her ability to inspire her teammates for a national championship is a credit to her desire to be a champion."
The Tennessee sophomore finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds and the Lady Vols had the biggest rout in regional final history. Her numbers could have been much gaudier, but coach Pat Summitt rested her for the final 12:10 with the game well in hand and the Lady Vols on the way to their 17th Final Four.
Not much help
Armintie Price finished off her stellar college career with a second consecutive 30-point effort in Mississippi's loss.
Price provided pretty much all of Mississippi's offense in the first half, scoring 15 of the Rebels' 22 points. She was 5-for-9 from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while the rest of the team was 3-for-23.
"Armintie is just going to play. She's not playing the scoreboard, she's just playing the basketball," Ross said. "Armintie would rather have scored three points and taken home a victory instead of getting the points she had."
Price left the game to a standing ovation from the crowd and also from the Tennessee bench.
"We've got to stand up for this young lady. She's one of the best players in the game. She probably hasn't had the amount of attention and recognition that she deserves," Summitt said. "If she's not an All-American in our game this year, then something's wrong. Because in my opinion, she plays both ends of the floor and they're not in this game if they don't have Armintie Price. I just have great respect for her and our whole team does."
Easy street
Dayton was predicted to be the toughest region when the bracket came out. It would have been tough to argue against that thought with Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma and Ohio State as the top four seeds. However, Marist and Mississippi busted up that bracket, giving Tennessee a relatively easy path to the Final Four.
The Lady Vols only had to beat No. 16 Drake, No. 8 Pittsburgh, No. 13 Marist and No. 7 Mississippi.
Tennessee improved to 48-0 against teams seeded lower than fourth in the NCAA Tournament.
Maggie's spirit
The Army team couldn't make it back to the NCAA Tournament this season, but will be honored as the recipient of the seventh annual V Foundation Comeback Award, given annually by The V Foundation for Cancer Research in collaboration with ESPN. The network made the announcement between the semifinal games of the Men's NIT on Tuesday night. The award will be presented to head coach Dave Magarity and the Army team on April 25 at the third annual Spirit of Jimmy V New York Gala.
Inside game
North Carolina was able to control the interior against Purdue behind center Erlana Larkins, who scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Tar Heels' 84-72 victory. She helped the Tar Heels outscore the Boilermakers 52-28 inside the paint.
Dance party
While the stage was being set for the postgame ceremony, Ivory Latta kissed her fingers and waved them to the crowd, a la Sammy Sosa. Powder-blue-clad fans on the other side of the floor began chanting "Final Four! Final Four!"
The celebration really got rolling at midcourt, where LaToya Pringle, Rashanda McCants and Camille Little danced in a circle with a surprise fourth participant: athletics director Dick Baddour.
Quality defeats
All four of UConn's losses this season were to the teams that reached the Final Four -- Tennessee, North Carolina, Rutgers and LSU.
