Tennessee trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, but their recovery from playing without Alexis Hornbuckle started with about 10 minutes left in the game and the Lady Vols rallied to beat Georgia 58-55.

Candace Parker sprained her ankle in the first half, but came back to lead Tennessee with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots, including the go ahead basket with 17 seconds left. Shanna Zolman added 18 points for the Lady Vols and was confident they would pull out the victory. As she put it, "the thought never crossed our mind that we were going to lose."

For the first time in Pat Summitt's career, her team used a 3-2 zone defense for the entire game. The plan was to use it to limit Tasha Humphrey offensively. It worked. The sophomore was held to half of her usual scoring and finished 2-12 from the floor and 10 points.

Sherril Baker led Georgia with 17 points and 5 steals. But the Bulldogs were not able to get a shot off in the closing seconds, something that troubles Coach Landers. "In the two timeouts we talked about who was going to get the ball, and do you think the right person got the ball?" asked a dejected Landers, referring to the Lady Bulldogs' last possession.

Summitt was pleased with her team's increasing poise and confidence throughout the game. "This team showed so much character in the second half,’’ Summitt said. "They needed to. We needed this win to show what’s in us. We grew up within the game.’’