It was a 15-point game at one point, but in the second half, Tennessee seemed like the trailing team, fighting for its life against onrushing Old Dominion.
Slowly, surely, inevitably, the Lady Monarchs sliced away at that lead, just as they had to a tremendous Stanford team just two nights earlier. Could the 10-loss Volunteers survive what the once-beaten Cardinal couldn't? And then 29-percent shooter Amber Eller tossed in two straight shots for ODU, and the Lady Monarchs grabbed a 49-47 lead with 7:02 left that they surely would not surrender.
Enter Chamique Holdsclaw, the 6-0 sophomore who is clearly on track to be the female version of that Michael guy who also wears 23.
And in the 40th minute, she rested.
By then, of course, it didn't matter. Neither did Old Dominion's 33-game winning streak, or Wendy Larry's superb coaching job, or the marvelous Portugese connection.
The final numbers: 68-59; Pat Summitt's fifth NCAA title; the first back-to-back women's champion since USC in 1983-84; and Holdsclaw's tidy little collection (24 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot).
OK, there was more to the game than Holdsclaw. How about Pashen Thompson and Tiffani Johnson combining to go eight-for-eight from the field and stay out of foul trouble while containing Machanguana?
Or Eller, who had two of 14 offensive rebounds for the season and one of her seven three-pointers for the season in the NCAA title game?
Or the incredibly bad ballhandling of ODU's Ticha Penicheiro (11 turnovers) and Old Dominion (26 overall)?
Or the equally incredibly bad ballhandling of Jolly (nine turnovers) and Tennessee (26 overall)?
Or Abby Conklin's amazing streak of clutch performances in big games? In this one, she was four-for-five from the field, two-for-two from the line and hit both her three-pointers. That's 12 points off the bench, and the only other Volunteer in double figures aside from Holdsclaw.
On the ODU side, Penicheiro did balance her 11 turnovers and four-for-13 shooting with eight assists, eight steals and six rebounds, while Nyree Roberts had another fine game with 13 points and nine rebounds.
But Mery Andrade fouled out trying to stop Holdsclaw with 8:01 left -- and I'm betting it was no coincidence that Chamique got it going almost immediately after she left.
The other defensive game of note goes to Tennessee freshman Kyra Elzy, who did what Jamilla Wideman couldn't: Slow down Penicheiro. Elzy is an inch taller than the 5-11 Penicheiro, uses her long arms and is almost as quick.
But maybe if Wideman gets a tired Penicheiro, maybe she does the same kind of job. There just wasn't enough milk left in the carton for the Lady Monarchs, who looked sluggish in the first half, and then ran out of Wheaties after battling back to take the lead in the second. And how much of ODU's heart, soul and energy was spilled on the floor of Friday night's extravagantly emotional semifinal?
A lot, most likely. But then again, Tennessee has Chamique Holdsclaw -- and I don't know if anything would have been enough to keep her from making the big plays that won the title for her teammates, her coach and the Tennessee fans.
I do have one request, though: Could the band please learn another song by next year's Pat Summitt/Chamique Holdsclaw show in the Final Four? Surely they've mastered `Rocky Top' by now.
3/30/97
