Adams: Parker puts on show for the ages

Stefanie Stone, who is 5-foot-11, faced off against Tennessee's 6-5 Candace Parker. As Stone lined up for the opening tip-off, she glanced to the side with an expression that seemed to say: "What are we getting into?"

She got her answer about seven minutes into the first half Sunday afternoon.

UT's Sidney Spencer blocked a shot, recovered the loose ball and pitched it to Parker, who was off and dribbling toward basketball history.

Parker rose high above 5-8 defender Margaree King, extended her right arm and delivered the first dunk in the history of the women's NCAA tournament.

If you missed this historical highlight, don't worry. ESPN will manage to show it a couple of hundred more times. By the end of the second round, ESPN viewers will think Parker is the only player in the women's tournament.

I just glanced at the television in the media center. In the middle of the George Washington-Old Dominion game, ESPN's cameras were trained on Parker, who was talking on her cell phone.

On a network that worships highlights, Parker talking on a cell phone is better TV than someone else shooting a basketball -- unless, of course, that someone else is dunking.

Parker didn't just dunk in UT's 102-54 first-round victory. She upstaged her dunk.

With 14:38 to play, she drove the baseline and dunked again. Teammate Alexis Hornbuckle said Parker's second dunk was premeditated.

Said Hornbuckle: She said, 'If I go baseline, I'm dunking.' "

When Parker matched her words, she became the first woman to dunk twice in the same game. She also turned her coach's head.

"That wasn't an easy dunk," UT coach Pat Summitt said. "That was a statement dunk: 'Here I am. I'm putting it down.' "

Parker joined college basketball's very short list of women dunkers. UT's Michelle Snow did it in three consecutive years (2000-2002). Georgeann Wells of West Virginia did it twice (1984, 1985), and Charlotte Smith of North Carolina did it once (1994).

As rare as dunking is in the women's game, it's a longtime entry on Parker's basketball resume. She said she first dunked in a game as a 15-year-old sophomore in Naperville, Ill. She later won a slam-dunk contest as part of McDonald's All-America game activities.

Parker has dunked in practice and in pregame warm-ups this season, but she missed her only game attempt last month against Auburn.

"My teammates had been on me that I hadn't dunked in a game," Parker said afterward.

Once she did, her teammates were more excited than anyone else.

"When she took off, I could tell, 'here it goes,' " Spencer said. "I was so excited, I couldn't even find the person I was guarding."

Parker's second dunk was the one that wowed teammate Sybil Dosty.

"She took two or three steps and rose up and dunked it like a dude," Dosty said. "It's crazy."

It also was a source of postgame humor.

In response to a press-conference question, Parker said, "Yes, it's a relief, finally to get it over with."

"Why did you do the second one?" asked Summitt, sitting next to her.

"Show off," teammate Shanna Zolman said.

Parker's show wasn't limited to dunks. She scored first on a fade-away baseline jump shot, made a driving basket with her left hand and capped a two-on-one fast break with a shot from the hip.

Parker had the stats as well as the highlights. She made 11 of 14 field-goal attempts and totaled 26 points, seven assists, four blocks and two steals in only 26 minutes.

You could argue that in her freshman season, Parker is already the most complete player in women's college basketball. There's no argument she will be the most watched player in the game.

ESPN and a couple of dunks will take care of that.