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Foiled again Lawson, Jackson leave Tennessee without titlePosted: Tuesday April 08, 2003 11:47 PMUpdated: Wednesday April 09, 2003 2:09 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- There were fewer fist pumps and chest thumps from Kara Lawson this time. Held to just three points in the first half, Lawson tried to rally her Tennessee teammates in the final minutes, but Connecticut held off the Lady Vols 73-68 Tuesday night for the national championship. As the last seconds ticked away, Lawson walked to the bench with her head down and stood with her hands on her hips as the Huskies celebrated at midcourt. "Being at the Final Four three times in my career, it's tough to not come home with one," she said. Lawson's animated facial expressions became a fixture in this tournament, and so did her story: Her strict father didn't want her to attend Tennessee and felt betrayed when she picked the Lady Vols over Stanford. He was among those in the Georgia Dome hoping she could end UConn's dominance. Instead, she finished her collegiate career without a title. She and Gwen Jackson were the team's only seniors. "I hurt for them," Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt said. "I love Gwen and Kara. They're like my daughters. I know they're going to do great things." Considering how she had taken over games late and led her team to victory this season, Tennessee had good reason to think she could do it again. But she didn't find her shooting touch until midway through the second half, when she started to drive aggressively to the basket and moved from the wing to the point on more possessions. "I definitely looked to push it harder than we did in the first half. I think that helped us offensively," she said. With Tennessee trailing by the largest margin of the game, 67-54, with 6:11 left, Lawson drove into the lane and drew a foul from Maria Conlon. She made both free throws. Then Lawson grabbed a rebound off Diana Taurasi's missed 3-pointer and raced down the court and straight to the basket. Her one-handed finger roll went in as Conlon fouled her, and Lawson converted the three-point play to cut the lead to eight with 5:34 remaining. Connecticut missed again at the other end, and Lawson picked up the loose ball. Again she drove the lane but missed as she was fouled. Lawson, an 87 percent free-throw shooter, made both to cut the lead to six. Predictably, after Tennessee got within four in the final minute, Lawson pulled up for a 3-pointer, but it missed. The Lady Vols couldn't get any closer. Tennessee trimmed an 11-point lead to 50-44 with 13:05 left after Brittany Jackson hit a 3, and Lawson scored a layup after getting a loose ball mishandled by Taurasi. Lawson made her second 3-pointer of the game when she pulled up and sank it with 10:42 remaining. Forty seconds later, she hit another one, but Connecticut was building its 13-point lead. "She's going to fight to the last second, just like Gwen," Brittany Jackson said. "They deserved a national championship. They've worked so hard." Lawson was a key to several Tennessee comebacks this season. She hit a driving basket with one second left as the Lady Vols rallied from 11 points down to beat Mississippi State 76-75 in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals. Against Auburn in the quarterfinals, she made three 3-pointers and all six free-throw attempts in another rally. Tennessee beat then-No. 4 LSU in the regular season after she scored nine of her 12 points in the last five minutes in an eight-point comeback en route to a 68-65 win. After Tuesday night's game, Lawson and Gwen Jackson sat in the training room in the back of the locker room conducting interviews as the rest of the team sat quietly -- some with their heads down, some with teary eyes. "You win some, you lose some, but I'm proud of her team. I'm
proud of the way we fought to get here," Lawson said. "It hurts
right now. But I think there are a lot of college players who would
trade for three Final Fours and two national championship games."
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