Championship - 1991 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball

1991 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament

Championship

Mar 31, 1991

New Orleans, LA

Tennessee vs. Virginia

This is the rematch of the game that VA and TN played in the Eastern Regional Final of the 1990 tournament. Most of the players from the previous year's team were still at their respective schools. Both teams had excellent records coming into this game. VA was 27-2 coming in to the tournament and TN was 25-5. Neither team had won their conference tournament but they were both top seeds in their regions.

The Cavaliers won their 2nd and 3rd games of the tournament by 15 points a piece after winning the first one by just 2. The Lady Vols' wins in their first three games of the tournament were all won by less than 10 points but none of them were won by less than a couple baskets.

The Cavaliers played Connecticut in the semi-final. Connecticut's head coach was Geno Auriemma, who was an assistant to VA head coach Debbie Ryan the year before. The Lady Vols played Stanford, the 1990 champions, in the semi-final. This game was played the day after the semi-finals. Both teams looked like they could have used a day off. There was something up with the camera or the camera man because the camera frequently tilted this way and that, sometimes at very inopportune moments.

The Cavaliers got an early lead in the first half. They were up by 10 but then slowed down and the Lady Vols took advantage of the situation. TN came back and took the lead. They were up by as much as 5 when the Cavaliers finally came back to life just before the half ended. The score at halftime was 27-26 with the Lady Vols in the lead.

The 2nd half wasn't any more energetic than the first. The lead was traded back and forth a few times. There were a few nice plays but for the most part it wasn't anything too special to watch. One of the Cavaliers tallest players fouled out with quite a bit of time left on the clock. Dawn Staley turned her ankle and was dealing with cramps in her calves. The Cavaliers had the lead toward the end but the Lady Vols came back and tied it (60-60) on a couple free throws to send the game to overtime.

The overtime period wasn't the Cavaliers finest hour. They missed several free throw attempts that could have changed the outcome of the game. The Lady Vols hit considerably more of their attempts. Dawn Staley hit a 3-pointer with less than 15 seconds to go but by then the Cavaliers were down by 6 and unable to score again as time ran out and the score was 70-67 in favor of the Lady Vols.