OKLAHOMA CITY — Even with an injured shoulder, Candace Parker was still able to lift the Tennessee women’s team into another Final Four.
Parker scored 26 points and returned after dislocating her left shoulder to lead the Lady Vols out of a second-half deficit for a 53-45 victory over Texas A&M in the Oklahoma City Regional final Tuesday night.
She twice left the game in the first half with the injury and she didn’t return until about halfway through the second half. She scored six of the Lady Vols’ points in an 8-0 run as they overcame a 42-37 deficit, all while wearing a brace to stabilize her left shoulder.
“I was just going to play as hard as I could and not to think about my shoulder and my situation,” Parker said. “I didn’t want this to be the last time that we played together.”
She scored only eight points in the second half, but it was enough to push the Lady Vols (34-2) ahead when combined with a sturdy defensive effort that kept Texas A&M (29-8) scoreless for a five-minute stretch.
Even after returning from the locker room with the shoulder wrapped, she shot an airball on her first jumper from the foul line and then couldn’t convert a layup off a lob at the right block.
She turned a second alley- oop attempt into a successful layup, and that got the Lady Vols’ run going.
