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Torchbearer: Summer 1998

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Lady Vols Make History

How 'bout those Lady Vols? Last season was a whirlwind of wins, honors, and even a little Hollywood as the team made history with its third consecutive national championship.

Here are some high points.

The Lady Vols won an unprecedented third consecutive national championship on their 11th trip to the NCAA Final Four. It was their sixth national crown.

With 39 wins and no losses, the team broke the NCAA record for victories in a season by a women's team.

The team won its eighth SEC championship.

Lady Vol Chamique Holdsclaw was named Southeastern Conference, Associated Press, Women's Basketball Coaches Association, and The Sporting News player of the year. Tamika Catchings was named The Sporting News rookie of the year. Both Holdsclaw and Catchings were named to the Kodak All America team. Coach Pat Summitt captured WBCA, AP, and The Sporting News coach of the year honors.

Holdsclaw, touted as one of the best women's basketball players of all time, was the only player, male or female, to receive a unanimous vote for AP All America from the 40-member national media panel.
A record 215,818 fans saw Lady Vols games in UT's Thompson-Boling arena last season, breaking the record of 167,992 set the year before.

The Lady Vols were the subject of an HBO documentary, A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back. The movie premiered in March at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.

Summitt was on the cover of the March 2 issue of Sports Illustrated. The team was featured in the March 23 issue of Time. Holdsclaw was spotlighted in Ebony magazine. Summitt and the "Three Meeks"-Holdsclaw, Catchings, and Randall-appeared on Good Morning America and CBS Good Morning. Summitt, along with Holdsclaw and guard Kellie Jolly, appeared on the Rosie O'Donnell Show.

Summitt's book Reach for the Summitt was released.

Next season should be even better. All but one player–senior Laurie Milligan, the first-ever man or woman to play in four consecutive NCAA championship games–will return to the team. Holdsclaw and Jolly will be seniors. And next season brings two new recruits, Michelle Snow, a 6'5" center from Pensacola (Fla.) High School; and Shalon Pillow, a 6'3" forward-center from Taylor High School in North Bend, Ohio.

Season tickets for the 1998-99 season are already on sale. For more information, call the Lady Vol hotline at (423) 974-8700. Be sure to check out the Lady Vols' Web page at http://ath.utk.edu/womens/wbb/wbb.htm.

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