INDIANAPOLIS — Shyra Ely’s goal for the postseason was to make it back to her hometown to finish out her career.
Sunday night at the RCA Dome, Ely sat helplessly on the bench and watched as her dreams of a national title slipped away in a 68-64 Michigan State win.
Early on, it looked as if the Spartans were going to run away from Tennessee. Michigan State built an eight-point lead before Tennessee began to find a comfort zone with the basket.
The Lady Vols took their first lead of the game with 3:19 remaining in the first half, one that would eventually build to double digits in the second half.
A quick start to the second half pushed Tennessee to a 16-point lead with 16:03 remaining.
Then the Spartans struck back.
“We knew they were going to make a run,” junior guard Shanna Zolman said. “We knew we had to counterbalance that with a run of our own.
“We weren’t able to get over that hump tonight.”
Cutting slowly into the Lady Vol lead over a span of 10 minutes, Michigan State completed the biggest comeback in a Final Four game and retook the lead with under a minute remaining.
The Michigan State run shadowed a time period for Tennessee in which Ely, struggling with her shooting for the day, found herself on the bench. By the time Ely returned to the game, the Spartans had cut the lead down into single digits thanks to an 8-0 run.
“It showed the heart and soul of our team to come back from the deficit and finish out the game with a win like they did,” Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
The Spartans’ comeback was capped with a steal by senior guard Kristin Haynie and ensuing layup with 1 minute remaining. The bucket gave Michigan State a 64-62 lead.
The steal set off chaos on the Michigan State bench.
“That steal was unbelievable,” senior center Kelli Roehrig said.
With Michigan State ahead 66-64 and less than 30 seconds remaining, UT had the opportunity to score but was unable to capitalize on any of three chances at the basket. A Zolman 3-point shot was off the mark as were shots under the basket by freshmen Alexis Hornbuckle and Nicky Anosike.
“I think they were rattled a little by the steal and basket that they had just scored,” UT coach Pat Summitt said. “We were forcing it a little bit because we were flustered.”
In the end, the point Summitt stressed as key for matching up against Michigan State worked out in the Lady Vols’ favor. Tennessee won the battle of the boards by ten rebounds, 43-33, including 19 offensive boards.
That, according to Summitt, didn’t end up being enough.
“You’ve got to make layups and you’ve got to hit free throws to win a basketball game,” Summitt said. “If you just look statistically at how many free throws we missed and how many missed layups we had, I didn’t think we did a good job of finishing our shots and hitting from the line.
“That was a big difference tonight.”
On the day, the Lady Vols hit only five of 13 free throws, including only two of eight in the opening half.
For two Lady Vols excited to be back in their home state for a Final Four, the location didn’t end up making a difference.
“I don’t care where it’s at,” Zolman said. “It could be in Alaska and I wouldn’t care. It’s a loss.”
That loss was a result of a loss of composure, something that this Tennessee team had become known for having in crunch time.
“Obviously this is a really tough loss for our basketball team,” Summitt said. “Unfortunately, tonight, we go up by 16 and we knew we had to answer runs. We lost our composure at times.
“Two things happened — our defense didn’t stand up to the test, and at the other end we got the ball inside, but we mishandled it.”
But Summitt, making her 16th trip to the Final Four, takes pride in her team and how it got to this point in the first place.
“I want this team to know how proud I am of them,” Summitt said. “Not every team in the country makes it to the Final Four. This senior class had the opportunity to do so all four years of their career.
“That’s something special.”
