Lady Vol Life

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University of Alabama women's wheelchair basketball team wins national title; 2010 USA Men and Women's National Wheelchair Basketball teams selected

The University of Alabama women's wheelchair basketball team dominated their match against Illinois on Saturday to win 66-36.

A stand out performance by Janet McLachlin, who had 30 points, 13 rebounds and finished 15 of 20 earned praise from the coach, Brent Hardin. For a more complete analysis of the game, click here.

The University of Alabama is one of 12 universities in the U.S. that sponsors wheelchair athletics and is in its seventh season.

In other women's basketball news, Head Coach Dave Kiley picked his 12 members for the 2010 USA Women's National Wheelchair Basketball team. They are:

Mary Allison Milford
Jennifer Chew
Darlene Hunter
Stephanie Wheeler
Sarah Castle
Becca Murray
Christina Ripp
Desiree Miller
Andrea Woodson-Smith
Loraine Gonzales
Carlee Hoffman
Natalie Schneider

Alternates: Emily Hoskins Caitlin McDermott Gail Gaeng Patty Cisneros


The 2010 Men's National Wheelchair Basketball team was also selected:

Nelms, Jason
Gugliotta, Joeseph
Pennie, Jermell
Counts, Jacob
Paye, Michael
Serio, Steve
Bell, Brian
Schulte, Paul
Scott, Matt
Lade, Jeremy
Chambers, Joseph
Jenifer, Trevon
Hinze, Nathan
Lesperance, Matthew
Lynch, Ian
Mazzi, Jaime
Barber, Eric
Waller, William

WNBA Draft 2010

Tina Charles of UConn was the number one pick of this year's WNBA draft, going to the Connecticut Sun

Other picks included: Jayne Appel to San Antonio, Epiphany Prince to Chicago, Kelsey Griffin to the Sun, and Andrea Riley to LA.





Click here to see a list of the draft picks by round.

WNBA exhibition games begin April 30 and the season starts on May 15.

UConn rallies to beat Stanford

After being taken to school by Stanford in the first half, UConn rallied to become back-to-back champions with an undefeated season and 78 straight wins.

Great photos here.

Related: And the streak rolls on

NCAA Women's March Madness: UConn v Stanford

The final game of the NCAA Women's basketball tournament will be played tonight (8:30 pm EST ESPN) between UConn and Stanford, the number 1 and 2 teams.

Michelle Voepel writes that history teaches nothing about this match. Her column article reviews the stats and what the coaches have to say.

Voepel writes that the players have different motivations: for UConn, it's the loss to Stanford in 2008 in the semifinals and for Stanford, it's getting so close to being national champs over the past three years without winning.

Predictions abound as to whether Stanford will upset UConn or not .

But what makes this an exciting match is how this all worked out: that UConn has to play Stanford in the final, which is the last team it lost to before its historic winning streak.

19 year old breaking barriers for women in motocross racing

via News8austin.com

In 2009, Fiolek became the first woman ever to be part of the Honda Red Bull factory MX team. In 2009, she won the X Games Women's Moto-X Gold Medal.

Up until last year, the Women's Motocross Association (WMA) oversaw women's motocross racing in the U.S. But now, the Women's Motocross Championship is fully integrated into the AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

19 year old Ashley Fiolek says her deafness is an advantage because the loud noises of the other racers doesn't bother her.

For a video interview, go here.

Inaugural professional world championship for women in skimboarding this June

Skimboarding will have its first women's professional world championship this June in Laguna Beach. The event will begin with a coin toss to see whether men or women get the "best high tide waves of the day". The prize purse will be decided based upon crowd numbers. And the event is not being held without some controversy.



Skim Chicks, a site that promotes female skim boarding, can be found here.

Skim Chicks support the Mauli Ola Foundation, a 501c(3) organization that hosts Surf Experience days, pairing "professional surf instructors with novice surfers who have cystic fibrosis to introduce them to the healing properties of exercise, ocean air, achievement, and fun in a supportive environment.Hypertonic saline (which is prevalent in the ocean air just above the water’s surface) has been shown to be a natural treatment for people with Cystic Fibrosis. " You can read more about it here.

Mauli Ola Surf Film from Kurtis Glade on Vimeo.

NCAA women's basketball scores

...updates can be found here.

Notre Dame, Mississippi State and Temple moving on so far. Xavier also moves on after a tough time against East Tennessee State.

And here's Kentucky's Wildcat mascot with one of the youngest fans prior to the opening round:

NCAA women's March Madness begins

Here's a rundown on the Memphis region:


And for Dayton; Kansas City and Sacramento.

ESPN 360 is covering every game. Here's their first games listed at noon today:

Princeton v St John's
Austin Peay v Tennessee
Hartford v LSU
Bowling Green State v Michigan State



Updates later.

UPDATES: St. John's 65 Princeton 47
Tennessee 75 Austin Peay 42
LSU 60 Hartford 39
and Michigan State 72 Bowling Green 62

more scores to come, available here

Duke wins over Hampton; in a thrilling game, Dayton pulled out a 1 point win over TCU after trailing most of the game. Florida State beat Louisiana Tech and Kentucky beat Liberty

On Women and the Paralympics

Over at brokenclay, Katja has a post about a Vancouver Sun article discussing how women are under-represented in the Paralympics. It points out how there are more women than men with disabilities, but that's not something you'd know by looking at who's in the Paralympics.

Katja also mentions Trish Downing's adaptive sports camps for women, 2010 Camp Discovery and Camp Discovery Triathlon Camp. You can find more information at those links.

The Comeback Team: Lady Vols

As UConn takes a few days off to rest after winning the Big East tournament last night, women's basketball teams continue to play to determine who will go to the NCAA tournament. The unbeaten Huskies await their subregional and regional assignments, as do the Lady Vols of Tennessee, who some say may be the team who faces UConn in the finals during the NCAA tournament.

Since no one's been able to beat UConn, there are lots of discussions going on about what it would take. Notre Dame played a good first half against UConn in the Big East tournament that showed some of the Huskies' vulnerabilities. It's a tape many coaches will be watching.

But what about the Lady Vols? What's happened to a team that didn't make it past the first round last year in the NCAA tournament, losing to Ball State?



Simply put, they grew up. They spent the spring and summer conditioning themselves (photos here) and practices honing their basketball IQ, team communication and overall skill level. They're at a point where they are starting to coach themselves and, more importantly, they can go the distance physically and mentally.

The Lady Vols are now a comeback team. Simply put, they find a way to win. Consisting entirely of sophomores and freshmen except for juniors Angie Bjorklund and Sydney Smallbone, their growth over the season is impressive. They have good size and a roster of McDonald All-Americans to help them along.

Freshman Kamiko Williams, instrumental in their SEC tournament win game against Kentucky, has the ability to do much more. Hampered by a turf toe, Taber Spani's contributions have been somewhat limited, but she scores key points when playing and is another freshman who makes the team's bench deep.

So what about the sophomores? There's Alicia Manning, a sophomore who won the MVP award from the SEC tournament. Manning became a starter late in the season and is starting to rack up double-double stats in scoring and rebounding. Kelly Cain, Glory Johnson and Strickland are also sophomores with great athleticism who make clutch plays. Brewer's play continues to improve, providing more depth. Bass has quickness when she comes off the bench.

The Lady Vols are a team that wins by rebounding and playing good defense. Then there are the individual skills of team members. When Bjorklund is shooting hot, her 3 point baskets can drive the momentum of a game. Cain and Brewer have the size to block and score easily. Johnson's athleticism results in easy baskets that are pretty to watch. Strickland is not as consistent as she will eventually be, but when she has a breakout game, it speaks for itself.

All of this could help the Lady Vols beat UConn, but I'd bet that their biggest asset is the one the Lady Vols didn't ask for and probably Coach Summitt has found hardest to deal with: their innate ability to stay in close games and get a win. I'm sure the coach would have liked to see more games where the team pulled out ahead in scoring, but there's one thing we know from this season: this team doesn't quit. They'll keep playing even when the score doesn't favor them.

And the main reason for that may be someone who is sitting on the bench. I haven't mentioned Amber Gray, who isn't playing this season due to recovering from brain surgery last summer. In many ways, however, the bonding that happened within the team because of Amber may be one of the single most important factors behind the Lady Vol's continuing growth, both as individuals and as a team. Amber has sat on the bench at home games. She's led the cheers from the bench. She's an example of how athletes should never take for granted the chances they have to play- as well as an example of how to deal with adversity and how to make a comeback.



Carpe diem is a word that comes to mind for a team that threw away a shot at the NCAA tournament last year, only to have a team member face such a serious medical situation. Courage is another word when watching Amber walk out of the rehab center weeks early wearing her Lady Vols colors. Persistence and discipline are other words, as Amber did her physical rehab on the sidelines as the team practiced this year.

All of this will be running through the minds of the Lady Vols' players as they take the court in the NCAA tournament. If the Lady Vols do face UConn and if they pull off a win, there will be a lot of people who will be shocked. A long shot? Sure. Improbable? Maybe. Impossible?

I don't think so. Not for this group of young ladies.

Tennessee Lady Vols Win SEC Tournament

The Lady Vols are both regular season champs and tournament winners this year in the SEC Division, pulling off a series of impressive wins over Ole Miss , Vandy and Kentucky. Here's a clip of the celebration after the game last night, including cutting down the net and dancing:

And the trophy presentation:

Rumor has it that Coach Pat Summitt sang Rocky Top after the win as a thank you to the fans, but am still looking for a clip of that. Will update if I find one.

[Update: Found more photos and more photos]

Congrats to the Lady Vols staff, players and fans.

***

In the Big East conference, Notre Dame faces UConn tonight and Rutgers will play West Virginia. Temple will play Xavier for the Atlantic 10 conference championship and Pepperdine will play Gonzaga in the WVV tournament final.

Ohio State won the Big Ten conference.

Princeton won the Ivy League title with a win over Harvard and their first trip to the NCAA tournament.

For a scoreboard with daily updates on NCAA women's basketball conference tournament play, go here.