Lady Vols claimSEC tourney title

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee men won’t be the only ones hanging a banner in Thompson-Boling Arena after the season.

And Tigers joined raccoons as creatures who learned not to mess with Pat Summitt in March.

LSU got the win last month and the regular-season conference title. But diminutive point guard Shannon Bobbitt was the one parading an SEC banner around the Sommet Center following No. 3 Tennessee’s 61-55 win over the seventh-ranked Lady Tigers in front of 12,392 on Sunday.

The Lady Vols (30-2) claimed their 13th SEC tournament championship and almost certainly a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They avoided becoming Summitt’s first team since the 1996-97 season to miss claiming at least one of the conference titles.

“LSU is a great team,” Tennessee’s Nicky Anosike said, “but we knew we were better and tried to show it on the court.”

One of the orange-clad fans who made up most of the championship-game record crowd held up a sign that read “Candace is the real P.O.Y.,” a reference to Sylvia Fowles winning the award over Parker.

Parker did her best to prove her supporter right. The SEC tournament MVP scored 28 points and broke a 54-all tie with 1:57 left on a jumper as the shot clock expired. She pump-faked Ashley Thomas and calmly drained the shot from the left wing.

“That was the difference in the game,” LSU coach Van Chancellor said. “The shot clock is down, they’re in disarray and she makes the shot.”

Fowles finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds after a sluggish start, but made just one of two free throws following Parker’s basket. LSU (27-5) got the ball back still trailing by a point but Parker, who played 40 minutes, stole an entry pass intended for Fowles in the post and then made two free throws.

Freshman Vicki Baugh finished off LSU with two free throws following a wild 3-point attempt by Quianna Chaney. Only then, with 8.5 seconds left, could Parker finally take a seat on the bench. She received a standing ovation along with Bobbitt, whose 3-pointer tied the game at 54 with 2:50 remaining.

But Parker still looked fresh, skipping down the bench and blowing kisses to the crowd.

“I got my second wind when we won and I was skipping,” Parker said.

Assistant Dean Lockwood asked Parker if she needed a break with 15 minutes remaining in the game, but she waved him off. Parker later called a timeout on her own but refused to leave the game.

Parker and Summitt noted two factors in her standout performance Sunday — scoring a career-low four points in last year’s tournament game against LSU and the slight in Player of the Year voting.

Following last year’s loss to LSU — “the worst I have ever seen Candace Parker play,” Summitt said — Parker told the team she wouldn’t let that happen again.

“And it hasn’t,” Summitt said.

A little inspiration against the SEC Player of the Year didn’t hurt, either.

“Obviously, that gives me a little bit of motivation and incentive to play harder,” Parker said of Fowles winning the league’s top individual honor. “But postseason is what I play for and what our team plays for.”

In particular, they play for the NCAA tournament. The Lady Vols said they’ll enjoy their championship as they take the next three days off, but defending their national title concerns them much more.

“We have bigger fish to fry,” Parker said. “We’ll celebrate tonight, but when we go back next week, we know we have to play for the NCAA championship.”

And attempt to add another banner to the increasingly-cluttered Thompson-Boling Arena rafters.