Parker lifts Vols past LSU

The Tennessee Lady Vols do not like being embarrassed or being denied championships. Now they’re going home with yet another Southeastern Conference tournament title at the expense of the team that handed them their worst league loss since 1985.

Candace Parker hit a jumper with 1:57 left that put Tennessee ahead to stay, and the No. 3 Lady Vols won their record 13th SEC title and third in four years by beating No. 7 LSU 61-55 Sunday night at Nashville, Tenn.

The last three all have come against LSU, but this win is a little sweeter for Tennessee after the Lady Tigers won the SEC regular season by defeating the Lady Vols 78-62 in Knoxville on Feb. 14. The Lady Vols (30-2) reached 30 wins for a sixth straight season and for the 18th time in coach Pat Summitt’s 34 years.

LSU (27-5) hoped to add the school’s third tournament title and first since 2003 in the Lady Tigers’ fourth straight chance in the title game. But the Lady Tigers could not score again after Sylvia Fowles hit only one of two free throws with 1:37 to go.

Parker finished with 28 points and Shannon Bobbitt had 12 for Tennessee.

Fowles finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for LSU.

(1) Connecticut 86, DePaul 67: At Hartford, Conn., Renee Montgomery had 19 points and Tina Charles added 16 as the Huskies (30-1) routed the Blue Demons (20-11) in the second round of the Big East tournament. Freshman sensation Maya Moore had 14 points and 15 boards for the Huskies, who reached the 30-win plateau for the third straight season.

(2) North Carolina 86, (12) Duke 73: At Greensboro, N.C., for the second straight day, North Carolina celebrated an Atlantic Coast Conference championship at the expense of its biggest rival. Erlana Larkins and Cetera DeGraffenreid each scored 17 points to help the Tar Heels (30-2) beat the Blue Devils (23-9) in the tournament championship, giving North Carolina its fourth straight title while almost certainly locking up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Louisville 57, (4) Rutgers 56: At Hartford, Conn., Angel McCoughtry had 20 points and a big block at the end as the Cardinals (23-8) upset the Scarlet Knights (24-6) in the second round of the Big East tournament.

(6) Stanford 78, UCLA 45: At San Jose, Calif., Candice Wiggins couldn’t buy a basket in the first half, then scored four straight points to start the second and finished with 13 to lead the Cardinal (29-3) into its seventh straight Pac-10 tournament title game with a victory over the Bruins (16-15).

Pittsburgh 64, (9) Notre Dame 53: At Hartford, Conn., Marcedes Walker had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Panthers (22-9) upset the Irish (23-8) in the second-round of the Big East tournament. It was Walker’s 52nd double-double, the most by any player in the conference.

(10) California 65, Arizona State 61: At San Jose, Calif., Devanei Hampton swore she’d be ready on the heels of a sub-par performance, and the California star showed up with 19 points and 16 rebounds to lift the Golden Bears (26-5) past the Sun Devils (21-10) and into their first Pac-10 tournament title game.