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Parker leads Tennessee to rout of Ole Miss

Mar 28, 2007 - 1:21 AM DAYTON, Ohio (Ticker) -- Mississippi's surprising NCAA Tournament run ended at the hands of a familiar foe.

Candace Parker had 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead top-seeded Tennessee to a 98-62 drubbing of the seventh-seeded Lady Rebels in the championship game of the Dayton Regional.

Sidney Spencer added 22 points and Shannon Bobbitt 14 for the Lady Vols, who advanced to their 17th Final Four.

Tennessee (32-3) will play either North Carolina or Purdue on Sunday in Cleveland.

Ole Miss (24-11) had knocked off second-seeded Maryland, the defending national champion, and third-seeded Oklahoma. Against Tennessee, however, the Lady Rebels came to a crashing halt, dropping their 14th consecutive game to their Southeastern Conference rival.

Bobbitt set the tone by hitting a pair of 3-pointers to start the game. Her third shot from the arc gave the Lady Vols a 22-10 lead with 13:16 to play.

Parker followed with a personal 6-0 run and Spencer added a pair of free throws to extend the margin to 30-12 with 8:12 left. Tennessee led, 51-22, at the half as Ole Miss missed all 11 shots from the arc.

The Lady Vols dominated the backboards, 45-27, and shot 54 percent (33-of-61) from the field, including 8-of-11 from 3-point range.

Armintie Price scored 30 points to cap a magnificent tournament in which she averaged 27.5 for Ole Miss. Price finished 9-of-15 from the floor but the rest of her teammates couldn't follow suit, combining to shoot 24 percent (12-of-49).