Fast Break
Women’s basketball
‘One-sided’ talk gets results
Pat Summitt has been in all sorts of crazy games in her career. She couldn’t remember one quite like this.
Her Tennessee Lady Volunteers pulled off the biggest comeback in school history by rallying from a 20-point halftime deficit to defeat Rutgers 55-51 in Piscataway, N.J., on Saturday.
“Never in my 35 years of coaching have I seen a game like that,” said Summitt, who earned her 994th career win. “I’ve been behind a lot in my career. This one stands out as one of the most special.”
Trailing 33-13 at the half, Summitt ripped into her inexperienced team, telling them it would be a long plane ride home for the Lady Vols if they didn’t start playing with some “Tennessee pride.”
The Lady Vols, who had never trailed by 20 points at halftime before, responded, with the first 11 points of the second half.
“We came in and regrouped at halftime,” said University High graduate Angie Bjorklund, who scored all of her 12 points in the second half.
Trailing 49-40 with 6:40 left, Tennessee (11-2) went on a 13-0 run. Bjorklund’s jumper with 1:30 left gave the Lady Vols their first lead of the game at 51-49 and hit two free throws to account for the Vols’ final points. “They were keying on (Bjorklund) big-time in the first half,” Summitt said. “We had a one-sided conversation. She stepped up.”
NFL
Millen: Firing came too early
Fired Detroit Lions president Matt Millen, the architect of the NFL’s first 0-16 team, said he’s responsible for its historic encounter with failure.
Appearing Saturday on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” Millen said he would have fired himself after the 2008 season. He said that being sacked after the third week cost the Lions and coach Rod Marinelli some needed stability and consistency.
Millen’s Lions went 31-84.
Feds catch up with Ingram
Former New York Giant Mark Ingram was arrested in Michigan on Friday, nearly a month after he disappeared on the day he was scheduled to begin serving a prison sentence for bank fraud and money laundering.
U.S. marshals tracked the retired wide receiver to a hotel room in Flint, Mich., after a manhunt that began when he failed to turn up at a federal prison in Kentucky on Dec. 5.
Ingram, in and out of jail since his NFL career ended in 1996, pleaded guilty in 2005 to cashing counterfeit checks and laundering money he believed to be from narcotics deals.
Before his flight, the 1991 Super Bowl standout had sought to delay the start of his nearly eight-year prison term so he could watch his son’s freshman season as a running back at the Alabama.
His arrest came just before his son’s biggest game: a Sugar Bowl matchup against Utah, which Alabama lost.