Parker proof women’s game is on the rise

I’m not sure women’s college basketball will ever reach the same level of excitement as the men’s game provides, but it sure comes close.

If you were to ask any who’s a faithful follower of the Lady Volunteer basketball team, they might disagree; in fact they might say it’s better. And it would be hard for me to argue with them after attending the women’s SEC tournament over the weekend and watching the Lady Vols capture the tournament title with wins over Vanderbilt and LSU.

I’ve been to a few of Tennessee’s games before, and they have always been exciting, but the level of enthusiasm didn’t quite reach the level of a men’s game.

But Saturday nights game against Vanderbilt brought the level of excitement to an all-time high for me. Now, I don’t know if it was because it was a tournament game or because the Lady Vols were playing Vanderbilt ‘ or it might have been a combination of both. But I can tell you it was definitely a fun experience.

I thought since Vanderbilt and Tennessee were going head-to-head in the semifinals, the crowd would be split right down the middle with half cheering on the Lady Commodores and the other half cheering on the Lady Vols ‘ but boy, was I wrong.

Saturday night’s crowd set a new SEC women’s tournament record with almost 13,000 in attendance. And from my vantage point all I could see was an arena filed with orange. Out of 13,000 at least 10,000 were Tennessee fans, very impressive since the game was being played in Nashville and just five or six miles from Vanderbilt.

As I made my way around the Sommet Center in between games and listened to a few fans who were stuffing themselves with hot dogs and popcorn I soon realized why so many people were there to watch the Lady Vols play.

Yes, a lot of them were there because they were loyal Lady Vols fans, but a lot of them were there to see one player in particular: Candace Parker.

It seems Parker has had such a huge impact on the game that she has her own fan base. In fact several people were there because this was going to be the last time to see her play in person as a Lady Vol.

It’s not only the state of Tennessee that’s caught Parker fever, it seems attendance as been up for almost all of the Lady Vols’ road games as well. As you may have read in Sunday’s edition, attendance tripled for Mississippi and Mississippi State games.

Parker has become a household name all across the country. It’s affecting people of all ages, and the one thing which really stood out Saturday was the number of mothers there with their daughters. Parker has served as inspiration for these young girls to become basketball players and hopefully future stars.

In the late ’90s another Lady Volunteer had the same affect on people. Chamique Holdsclaw was voted SEC player of the year in 1998 and 99 and, like Parker, became a household name across the country.

Parker scored the 2,000th point of her three-year career during Sunday’s game against LSU, and in the process gave head coach Pat Summitt her 977th win during her 34th season at Tennessee.

As players continue to get stronger, faster and better the women’s game will continue to climb the ladder of success and bring more and more excitement to fans of all ages and gender.

It’s not just the Lady Vols program that’s brought so much excitement to the game. It’s the level of play all across the country. Rutgers, UConn, LSU, all of these programs have shed a new light on women’s basketball.

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Reach Dale Stubblefield at [email protected]