TAMPA, Fla. -- Tennessee took the adage "It's OK to win ugly, just win" way too far. The Vols' semi-final win over LSU Sunday night was UGLY with a capital UG. It came in sharp contrast to the earlier semi-final in which Stanford and Wade Trophy winner Candice Wiggins played a beautiful game against overall favorite Connecticut to come away with a solid 82-73 win.
LSU and Tennessee's 47-46 contest was the lowest-scoring game in Final Four history. The last time Tennessee scored under 50 points was 1982. LSU, in its fifth straight Final Four without advancing to the final game, shot 35 percent. Tennessee, looking to win its second straight championship and eighth overall, shot 30 percent. Foul-shooting was even worse. Tennessee got to the line just seven times, but made only two shots. Fowles, who must have taken foul-shooting lessons from Shaq, was 4-11 from the line and her team just 7-19.
Still, Fowles was the player of the game. She scored 24 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and thwapped 5 blocks. She didn't get much support from her teammates. None of them scored in double figures. The backcourt, which needed to step up, shot 1-9 from behind the arc. Quianna Chaney hit the only three, but she was 1-6, and she finished with 9 points.
Tennessee star Candace Parker, hampered by a sore left shoulder and LSU's physical defense, shot 6-for-27. She finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks. Her individual stats were the best of the Vols', but she got some help from the two junior-college transfers who came through in last year's Final Four, Alberta Auguste (10 points) and Shannon Bobbitt (11 points). Bobbitt, the smallest player on the court by perhaps a hair to LSU's Erica White, made all three of Tennessee's threes on 3-6 shooting, while the team shot 3-12 overall from the perimeter.
Even the game's end, which climaxed with an exciting last-second putback, was ugly nonetheless. Auguste had put Tennessee ahead 45-44 when guard Alexis Hornbuckle fouled White with 7.1 seconds left. The senior calmly sank the two free throws. Parker drove the length of the court, passed to Nicky Anosike in the paint, and she missed the layup. Hornbuckle, who hadn't made a shot all night, grabbed the rebound and put it in with 0.7 seconds on the clock. She then intercepted LSU's inbounds pass to seal the win.
"That's the only shot that mattered," Hornbuckle said after the game.
I only hope that the quality of women's basketball will not be judged on the Tennessee-LSU game. The Stanford-UConn game, with its crisp ball movemement, keen back-door cuts and bigtime threes, was a much better example.
These two teams met in November, and Connecticut came away with a 12-point win. But that was before two Connecticut starters went down with ACL injuries and before Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer tinkered with her triangle offense to take the scoring pressure off Wiggins (25 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists) and allow Jayne Appel (15 points, 10 rebounds) JJ Hones (11 points, 6 assists) and Kayla Pedersen (17 points) to get easier looks.
Connecticut was led by freshman sensation Maya Moore (20 points) and Renee Montgomery (15 points) and was able to come back from a 40-33 halftime deficit to within 47-46 -- the final score in the Tenn-LSU game -- by making runs and pressing. But Wiggins hit two huge threes to help the Cardinal pull away and have a chance at its first title since 1992.
Stanford beat Connecticut at its own game.
"We ran with them and we ran on them," said Stanford guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude of Queens. "That's their game. This is amazing. Yous aw after we got in the Final Four, everybody was crying. This time, we're happy, but we're also very focused."
Tennessee better watch out.