Tennessee-Rutgers women's game a slam-dunk

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

There will be above-the-rim women's basketball players on both sides Sunday (noon ET), when Rutgers and Tennessee play an NCAA tournament round-of-16 game in Cleveland, part of ESPN/ESPN2's continuing coverage.

Tennessee has Candace Parker, a 6-5 redshirt freshman who dunked twice in a first-round game against Army. Rutgers has starter Essence Carson and reserve Tudy Reed, sophomores who have dunked in practice.

Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer, whose team lost to Tennessee 59-49 last year in an NCAA regional final, says the Scarlet Knights are not consumed with preventing Parker from dunking.

"You know what? It's still just two points," Stringer says. "We're not focusing on that, like, 'Whoa, let's not get embarrassed and let her dunk on us.' That's not the issue. We're trying to win a game."

While Carson hasn't dunked in a game, she executed an eye-catching maneuver when Rutgers lost to West Virginia in the Big East tournament semifinals, grabbing the collapsible rim with both hands and pulling it down. She was called for offensive goaltending, nullifying a three-pointer.

"I'd never seen this in my life," says Stringer. "I was so stunned I didn't know what to say."

Stringer thinks Parker's dunks could be a catalyst to more women's players dunking: "I think more players will be encouraged now that Candace has done her thing. There are a lot more special athletes out there doing things. It's great for women's basketball."

Two of those special players will meet Saturday in San Antonio (2p.m. ET) -- Stanford's Candice Wiggins and Oklahoma's Courtney Paris, whose prep team twice beat Wiggins' for California titles.

Wiggins, the daughter of the late major leaguer Alan Wiggins, is an athletic, skilled guard. "She can do so many different things," says Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale.

The 6-4 Paris, daughter of former NFL lineman Bubba Paris, has dominated in the tournament, shooting 23-for-29 (79.3%) while averaging 28.5 points and 13 rebounds.

To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com