OKLAHOMA CITY — The scene during the second half of Tennessee’s win over Notre Dame on Sunday seemed so fluid, so effortless.

Nicky Anosike throws the elbows and yells at teammates and performs all the gritty work, coach Pat Summitt likes to note, that few people even notice. Anosike took just eight shots Sunday.

Alexis Hornbuckle continually looks for Candace Parker in the post and gets herself in position to rebound. She, also, took only eight shots.

Parker is the star. She’s the first option on almost every play, receiving lobs and entry passes and, sometimes, brings the ball up the court herself. She plays all five positions.

Parker scored 34 points and shot 17 free throws in Tennessee’s 74-64 Sweet 16 win at the Ford Center. She got all the questions at the postgame news conference, and teammates were quick to praise her scoring.

“I’m not the first option on offense,” Anosike said. “I know I’m not the second option. I’m not the third or fourth. Sometimes, I’m the fifth option on offense. I know my role on the team. Candace is a great scorer.”

It wasn’t always this way.

To understand how much work Summitt needed to change this group during the last four years, you have to remember their first appearance together at the Ford Center.

Anosike, Hornbuckle and Parker — along with reserve Alex Fuller and Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood, now at Maryland — played in the McDonald’s High School All-American game four years ago in this same building. They were the best recruiting class in the history of women’s basketball, maybe the most heralded in all of basketball.

“Most of them didn’t answer my recruiting letters or my phone calls,” said Texas A&M coach Gary Blair, whose team will face Tennessee tonight in the Oklahoma City Regional final.

Anosike was a second-team Parade All-American who averaged 11.4 points per game on the USA Basketball Women’s Under-19 world championship team. Hornbuckle was considered the No. 4 recruit nationally and was voted MVP after scoring 22 points in the McDonald’s game. Parker was a two-time national player of the year, the new face of women’s basketball.

On paper, the class couldn’t fail. On the court, they couldn’t jell.

“We had a bunch of egos in our camp,” Summitt said, “so it took awhile for them to all realize we are family. If they’re not willing to share the ball, it’s obvious. It’s one of those games where it’s ‘My turn.’ Oh, I’ve seen a lot of those. I go, ‘Oh, OK, it’s Lex’s turn. Now it’s Nicky’s turn. Now it’s Candace.’ You had roll call.”

The adjustment from scoring at will and obtaining all the glory to settling into defined roles and deferring to Parker was a struggle. They were the nation’s elite, not role players. Some jealousy developed with Parker getting all the praise. Hornbuckle felt added pressure in practice.

“I think we were all just trying to get respect, whether it was pickup games or in individuals,” she said. “We were going out there like, ‘Don’t underestimate us just because we’re not Candace.’”

Their second season together, Parker’s freshman year because of a knee injury, North Carolina hammered Tennessee in the Elite Eight. There would not be a trip to the Final Four. Hornbuckle said she didn’t even realize until then that all three players needed each other.

But the moment they became a group instead of three individuals was after LSU blasted them in the 2007 SEC tournament semifinal. Anosike ripped into Parker, who admitted that was the worst game of her career.

Yes, someone stood up to the superstar, which Parker says is quite normal now.

“It used to be we’d always say, ‘Come on, Candace, get into it,’” Hornbuckle said. “We’re all females and some of us are a little bit sensitive at times. But at that point in time, you had to set aside all the attitudes, all the sensitiveness and say, ‘Look, we have one mission and one goal in mind, and this is what we need. We’re all in this together.’

“We realized that she is a superstar, she’s very marketable, she’s in the spotlight. So what can we do to help her?”

Exactly what they did against Notre Dame, sacrificing attention for advancement in the tournament. Tennessee won the national title after Anosike’s explosion and needs three more wins to repeat as champions.

“I think they respect each other now,” Summitt said. “They’re all about playing together. Now the ball isn’t getting stuck in players’ hands, and they’re defending and our help defense is better.”

They’ve grown up since their first game together at the Ford Center.

“You know, I would love to talk about the McDonald’s All-American game,” Hornbuckle said with a laugh. “Nicky and I were on the East and Candace was on the West. And all I got to say is we won. The West lost. But we have fun together as a whole, and hopefully we can keep our winning streak alive on the court and she can get one.”

Responded a smiling Parker: “Oh, you think that is funny?”

It is now.

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