2009 Salute to Women in Sports

Other WomenTalkSports posts of “Best of ‘09″:

• From Because I Played Sports, Best of ‘09: Forming a community, WomenTalkSports.com

• From One Sport Voice, The “Best” of 2009 and the State of Girls & Women in Sports

• From WakeGirls.com, Best of ‘09 – A Year for Women in Wake

Iraqi girls take part in Lady Vols’ basketball camp

An Iraqi girls’ basketball team took part in a Tennessee Lady Vols basketball camp last week as part of a program promoting peace and cultural understanding through sports.

Under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi National Women’s Basketball Team was dismantled and the number of girls playing plummeted. In the mid 1980s, Saddam’s son, Uday, “revived” the National Olympic programs but he was known to commit horrific acts of torture against athletes who did not placate his obsession to win. As a result, the vast majority of girls and women stopped playing sports altogether.

Sport 4 Peace , which was co-founded in 1994 by Steve DeVoss and UT doctoral student Sarah Hillyer, a former basketball player at Virginia Tech,  hope to bring Iraqi women back to the sport.  According to Hillyer, the idea to bring the girls to UT came when the group was conducting a basketball camp in connection with Global Sports Partners in Iraq last year.

They had taken some basketballs from the Lady Vols, and Pat Summitt – the winningest coach in college history -  videotaped an inspirational message for them.

During a session, the camp leaders asked the Iraqi players to write down their dreams on index cards.

“Every kid said my dream is to visit the USA, attend a WNBA game and to meet Coach Summitt and to thank her,” said Hillyer.

The 10 girls, ages 14-16, were selected based upon leadership qualities, a positive attitude, and a spirit of solidarity. The team, along with three coaches,  arrived in Washington, D.C. and spent a couple days in the nation’s capital before heading to Knoxville.  Per their wish list, they even attended a Washington Mystics-Atlanta Dream WNBA game.

Although many of the girls – who represent a diversity of Iraqi geographic regions and religious beliefs – are still fine-tuning their skills as they learn the game, they won over a few hearts during their time on the Tennessee campus.

Among those impressed with their aggressive style of play has been Summitt.

One of the Iraqi coaches told the media the experience has been meaningful. A couple of the girls said they had been educated watching the other campers and how they play as a team, how they talk on the court, how they pass and how they move.

Off the court, the girls have also learned plenty, especially regarding American food – which they described as different but good.

So, will some of these girls be playing for the Iraqi women’s basketball team during the 2012 Olympic Summer Games? Don’t count them out.

Summitt reaches new heights: 1,000 wins

Pat Summitt now has 1,000 victories, an unprecedented height even she finds dizzying.

“It’s a hard number to even comprehend,” the Tennessee coach said.

Summitt, 56,  became the first Division I basketball coach—men’s or women’s—to win 1,000 career games Thursday night as her 12th-ranked Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43. It was their second chance in four days at giving their coach her latest and one of her greatest milestones.

Summitt’s grand achievement took place in front of 16,058 adoring fans.

En route to the milestone, Summitt has made a remarkable journey. Her Tennessee teams have won eight NCAA titles, made 16 NCAA Final Four appearances and captured 27 Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships. She has coached 12 Olympians, 19 All-Americans, 71 All-SEC performers, 43 players who have gone on to the professional ranks, as well as numerous members of U.S. National Teams. Amazingly, every Lady Vol women’s basketball player since 1976 has played in at least one Final Four during her career at Tennessee.

Wow. That’s some resume. So why does her male counterpart at Tennessee, who’s won nary a single NCAA championship, make almost twice as much money as she does?

Pat Summitt Shoots for 1,000 Wins

Tonight could mark the ultimate accomplishment of any basketball coach in NCAA history.

Already in the record books as the all-time winningest basketball coach in NCAA history, Pat Summitt and her Lady Vols will take the stage tonight against No. 2 Oklahoma in search of Summit’s 1000th career win.

When Pat Summitt became women’s basketball coach at Tennessee in 1974, she was 22 years old. She had no clue that the recently passed Title IX legislation and her career would help revolutionize women’s sports. She launched her career when funding opportunities were just beginning to accelerate women’s athletics and she quickly emerged as a leader. Since then, she has surpassed the achievements of every NCAA basketball coach in history.

Growing up on a farm in Henrietta, Tenn., Summitt was expected to chop tobacco, bale hay, milk cows and fix tractors like her three older brothers. She learned basketball in two-on-two games with them on the court her father built in the hayloft of a barn.

The cutthroat contests helped prepare Summitt as a player who started on the 1976 Olympic team that won a silver medal. Coming from hard work, Summitt prepares her team similarly. “Tennessee wins because, in the end, our players feel they have worked too hard not to,” she wrote in her 1998 book, Reach for the Summit.

Summitt entered her 35th season as head coach of Tennessee this year with a staggering eight NCAA basketball titles and 983 wins. With the momentum of its most recent NCAA title in 2008, Tennessee hit the ground running this season for the remaining 17 victories toward Summitt’s 1,000.

The season hasn’t been easy, however.  As Summitt creeps closer to her 1,000th career victory, she is “losing patience” with her young, less-experienced team.

How will it play out tonight? Tune into ESPN2 for the tip-off at 7:30 EST. 

Tennessee’s Anosike selected as NCAA Woman of the Year

October 20, 2008 – Nkolika “Nicky” Anosike, a self-described role player for the two-time defending NCAA champion Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, was named the 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year at the October 19 awards banquet in Indianapolis. She was chosen from among 345 nominees and a field whittled to nine finalists on Oct. 1.

“I feel really honored,” said Anosike by phone from Israel, where she is playing basketball during the WNBA offseason. “I’m only the second basketball player to win it. It makes it special that it is an all-around award, not just for basketball, not just for academics.”

Rebecca Lobo of Connecticut was the first basketball player chosen for the award in 1995.

Anosike, who is currently a center for the Minnesota Lynx, grew up in a New York City housing project with her single mother and seven siblings. Basketball enabled her to escape the projects through a scholarship to the University of Tennessee. She made the most of her chance, in the classroom and on the court.

Graduating from Tennessee in May with honors and majors in legal studies, political science and sociology, Anosike hopes to be a lawyer someday.As a senior in the 2007-08 season, Anosike was the captain of a Lady Vols team that won its second NCAA title in a row. She also worked with community organizations that distributed turkeys and toys to needy families in the Nashville area.

Anosike’s mother and Tennessee coach Pat Summit accepted the Woman of the Year Award in her honor.

Ace Wins; Parker and Tennessee NCAA Champions

April 9, 2008 – Injured or not, a bum left shoulder wasn’t enough to stop Candace Parker from hoisting that championship trophy one last time.

Parker scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help Tennessee capture its eighth championship with a 64-48 victory over Stanford on Tuesday night. The Lady Vols also became the first repeat champs since Connecticut won three straight from 2002-04.

The AP player of the year will leave the Lady Vols (36-2) with a year of eligibility remaining, but has accomplished one of her goals by winning multiple national titles.

Parker also became the fourth player to win back-to-back Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four honors. She joined Connecticut’s Diana Taurasi (2003-04), Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw (1997-98), and Southern Cal’s Cheryl Miller (1983-84).

Stanford’s loss ended Candice Wiggins’ remarkable run through the NCAA tournament. She scored 14 points and finished with 151 over the six games _ the fourth-best total in tournament history. Sheryl Swoopes holds the record with 177 points, when she led Texas Tech to the championship in 1993. Wiggins is the first player to have two 40-point games in the tournament.

Wiggins took the Cardinal (35-4) further than they’d been since 1992, when the program won it all. Stanford hadn’t reached the Final Four since 1997 or advanced to the championship game since the ‘92 team.

The Ace vs. Ice battle may be over on a collegiate level, but we’re bound to see both of these Pretty Tough players again and again. 

Hoops: Tennessee, Stanford advance to title game

April 7, 2008 -Alexis Hornbuckle’s only basket of the game was enough to get Tennessee back in the championship game.Hornbuckle’s putback with seven-tenths of a second left lifted the Lady Vols to a 47-46 victory over LSU in Sunday night’s national semifinal. It was the lowest scoring game in Final Four history.

AP Player of the Year Candace Parker, recovering from a dislocated shoulder, scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Lady Vols.

Tennessee (35-2) moved within a win of its eighth national championship. To do it, the Lady Vols will have to beat Stanford, which stunned Connecticut 82-73 in the other semifinal.

Cardinal star Candice Wiggins, the first player to have two 40-point performances in the same NCAA tournament, finished five assists shy of the first triple-double in women’s Final Four history.

The Lady Vols are looking to become the first repeat champions since the Huskies won three straight titles from 2002-04.

Ladies’ Night: Women’s Final 4 on tap

April 6, 2008 – Tennessee, LSU, Connecticut, Stanford – The women’s NCAA basketball tournament will dwindle to two teams after tonight’s Final Four. Contending for the two spots in the national championship are perennial contenders Tennessee and Connecticut, LSU — which is looking for its first NCAA crown — and Stanford, looking to extend its 22-game winning streak.

Will coaches Pat Summitt (Tenn.) and Geno Auriemma (UConn) meet in a championship showdown? Will Candace Parker’s shoulder — which she dislocated in regional final — hold up? Will Cardinal star Candice Wiggins,  the Pac-10’s all-time leader in scoring (2,590 points) and 3-point field goals (290), end her collegiate career with a national championship?

Tune in to find out the answers to these questions, and more!

7:00 PM EST: Stanford (4)  vs. Connecticut (1)
9:15 EST: LSU (6) vs. Tennessee (3)

Hoops: Stanford Final Four bound; Maryland’s NCAA tourney run ends

April 1, 2008 – The Terrapins fell in their Elite Eight game to Stanford, and a particularly hot-shooting Candice Wiggins who had 41 points.  The Terrapins got behind after about five or six minutes  and despite shooting better than 60 percent in the first half, trailed by 10 at intermission.

It was a way different story from Maryland’s comeback win to beat Duke in the national championship game two years ago.  All five Terps starters scored in double figures, marking the first time this season that Maryland lost when five of its players scored 10 or more. Junior Kristi Toliver had a career-high and NCAA tournament school-record 35 points for Maryland (33-4), including 11 straight in one second-half push as the Terps tried to erase a 17-point Cardinal lead.

Stanford and LSU, a winner over North Carolina, are in the Final Four along with the winners of tonight’s games — Texas A&M-Tennessee and Rutgers Connecticut.

Final stats

Hoops: Eight is enough

March 31, 2008 – Freshman phenom Maya Moore had 25 points and 11 rebounds in her second straight 20-point postseason performance to lead top-seeded UConn past Old Dominion 78-63 in a Regional semifinal Sunday.

Next up for coach Geno Auriemma’s powerhouse program: Big East foe Rutgers with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

In the Oklahoma City Regional semifinal, Candace Parker matched her career best with 34 points and hauled in 12 rebounds, pushing the top-seeded Lady Vols to the regional finals for the eighth straight year with a 74-64 win against Notre Dame on Sunday night.

Tennessee moves on to play Texas A&M.

Rounding out the Elite Eight are Maryland and Stanford along with UNC and LSU who both battle for their Final Four appearance tonight.

Click here for interactive bracket

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