Snow Helps No. 2 Tennessee Dunk Illinois

Michelle Snow of Tennessee managed to upstage one of the best starts by a Volunteer women’s basketball team in the championship game of the Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii.

The second-ranked Volunteers opened their 111-62 victory over No. 21 Illinois on Saturday by making none consecutive shots en route to a 25-3 lead.

Snow capped the first half in a way most women’s players have only dreamed of--she dunked.

The 6-foot-5 junior center stole the ball near the top of the key, went in alone and dunked. She hung on the rim for an extra second or two after completing the fifth dunk in a game in the history of women’s college basketball.

“I did grab the rim because the last time they said I didn’t grab the rim so it didn’t count,” Snow said, referring a near-dunk against Texas Tech late last season. “I said the next time I do it there would be no question.”

There wasn’t.

Snow joins Georgeann Wells of West Virginia, who dunked twice in the 1984-85 season, and Charlotte Smith and Sylvia Crawley of North Carolina, who dunked in different games for the Tar Heels in the mid-’90s.

Tamika Catchings of Tennessee, despite playing with five stitches in her left hand scored 21 points and was selected as most valuable player of the tournament.

Catchings started the game by making a three-point shot and Tennessee did not miss its next eight shots. When Kristen Clement made a three-pointer 4:41 into the game, the score was 25-3.

But Snow stole the show with her dunk.

“She’s had the green light for a couple of years to do it if she got that steal in the high post,” Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt said. “She got her first steal and her first dunk.”

The Tennessee bench went wild with players either hugging, jumping or swinging towels.

“My teammates have been great with the support they’ve given me and they’ve been hyping me up to do it,” Snow said. “This is the first season I really haven’t been thinking about it. I thought if it was time it would be time. Today was the day.”

Allison Curtin had 21 points for Illinois, which suffered its worst loss since March 1, 1991, a 112-49 loss to Purdue, the worst in school history.

No. 3 Duke 97, Duquesne 66--Freshman Rometra Craig, the daughter of former NFL running back Roger Craig, scored 17 points at Durham, N.C., in the semifinals of the Duke Women’s Classic.

Georgia Schweitzer had 14 points and Missy West added 11 for Duke (6-0).

Playing its fourth game in seven days, Duke made eight of its first 10 shots from three-point range.

Duke will play Toledo in the championship game today.

Oxana Sketko led Duquesne (2-1) with 14 points.

No. 4 Purdue 86, Montana State 61--Katie Douglas scored 18 points and led four Boilermakers in double figures at the Torneo Cancun de Basquetbol in Cancun, Mexico.

Mary Jo Noon scored 14 points for Purdue.

Amy Meckling led Montana State with 23 points.

No. 7 Rutgers 54, Vermont 29--Rutgers held Vermont to a school-record low for points in the Coca-Cola Classic at Piscataway, N.J.

Rutgers will play George Washington, a 76-62 winner over Washington State, in today’s championship game.

Rutgers held Vermont (2-2) scoreless for a 7 1/2-minute span in the first half while building a 20-7 lead.

No. 9 Penn State 86, No. 10 Louisiana State 52--Kelly Mazzante scored 24 points for the Nittany Lions (3-2) in the third-place game of the Paradise Jam Classic at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Mazzante made nine of 13 shots, including four of five three-point attempts.

Doneeka Hodges led LSU (2-3) with 15 points.

No. 13 Texas Tech 81, No. 17 Southwest Missouri State 77--Plenette Pierson had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas Tech (3-0) to the championship of the Paradise Jam Classic at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Jackie Stiles led Southwest Missouri State (2-1) with 38 points.

No. 15 Mississippi State 66, New Mexico 59--LaToya Thomas scored 27 points and Mississippi State (2-1) held New Mexico (3-2) scoreless over the final two minutes in the final of the Southwest Airlines Shootout at Albuquerque, N.M.

No. 20 Auburn 94, Bowling Green 61--Carol Smith and Tasha Hamilton each scored 16 points as the Tigers won the Kroger Thanksgiving Classic at Auburn, Ala.

Brandi Hillman added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Lori Nero had 10 points for Auburn (4-0).

Francine Miller and Megan Jerome led Bowling Green (2-2) with 18 points each.

No. 22 North Carolina State 48, Arkansas 46--Carisse Moody and Tynesha Lewis each scored 15 points as North Carolina State (3-1) won a semifinal in the Rainbow Wahine Classic at Honolulu.

North Carolina State plays Arizona State in the championship game today.

No. 25 Vanderbilt 92, Boston University 56--Zuzi Klimesova had 24 points and 16 rebounds as Vanderbilt (2-1) won a semifinal of the First Tennessee Tournament at Nashville.

The Commodores will face Miami of Ohio in the championship game today. Miami defeated Austin Peay, 88-68.