Injured Parker leads Tennessee

Even with an injured shoulder, Candace Parker was still able to lift Tennessee into another Final Four.

Parker scored 26 points and returned after dislocating her left shoulder to lead the Lady Vols out of a second-half deficit for a 53-45 win over Texas A&M; in the Oklahoma City Regional final Tuesday night.

She twice left the game in the first half with the injury and she didn’t return until about halfway through the second half. She scored six of the Lady Vols’ points in an 8-0 run as they overcame a 42-37 deficit, all while wearing a brace to stabilize her left shoulder.

“I was just going to play as hard as I could and not to think about my shoulder and my situation,” Parker said. “I didn’t want this to be the last time that we played together.”

She scored only eight points in the second half, but it was enough to push the Lady Vols (34-2) ahead when combined with a sturdy defensive effort that kept Texas A&M; (29-8) scoreless for a five-minute stretch.

“People, sometimes they see Candace as more of a finesse player, but I think sometimes when you see finesse players, you don’t realize just how mentally tough they are until you see them fight through the adversity that she fought through tonight,” Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt said.

Top-seeded Tennessee advances to the Final Four for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, where it will face Southeastern Conference rival Louisiana State. The teams split their two meetings this season. The Tigers beat Tennessee during the regular season but lost in the SEC tournament championship game.

Connecticut 66, Rutgers 56 -- Connecticut’s Maya Moore struggled to get open all night against Rutgers’ smothering defense. Then, given a rare open look from long range, the freshman shot the Huskies back into the Final Four.

Moore made a tiebreaking three-pointer with less than three minutes left to propel top-seeded Connecticut past the No. 2-seeded Scarlet Knights in the Greensboro Regional championship.

Renee Montgomery and Ketia Swanier each scored 15 points to lead the Huskies (36-1), who rallied from a 14-point deficit to win their 15th straight game and reach their ninth Final Four -- but first since winning the 2004 national championship.

“I would say maybe it’s our turn,” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said.

Connecticut will face Stanford in the semifinals. The Huskies beat the Cardinal, 66-54, in the Paradise Jam tournament in November.

Matee Ajavon scored 18 points to lead Rutgers (27-7), the defending Greensboro Regional champion that was denied its second consecutive Final Four berth.

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FINAL FOUR

Sunday at St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla. (TV: ESPN)

No. 1 Tennessee (34-2) vs.

No. 2 Louisiana St. (31-5), 4 p.m.

No. 1 Connecticut (36-1) vs.

No. 2 Stanford (34-3)*

Semifinal winners play in Tuesday’s national championship game.

* Game 2 is 40 minutes after first game.