CLEVELAND - Nicky Anosike carefully clipped two ends of a strand off the net. Then she softly placed the scissors on top of the ladder and dismounted for the next Lady Vol to take a turn.

It was the first gentle act of the evening.

Tennessee and Rutgers shook, rattled and rolled each other for 40 minutes Tuesday night just a few blocks up the street from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Tennessee shook a little better, rattled a little harder and, ultimately, rolled to another national championship.

Lady Vols 59, Rutgers 46.

If it wasn't 40 minutes of beautiful basketball, it was in the end a beautiful result for Tennessee.

If it wasn't poetry in motion, it was a little of this, a bit of that, all adding up to enough.

It was the littlest gal on the court, 5-foot-2 Shannon Bobbitt, knocking down a flurry of 3-pointers.

It was Anosike daring Rutgers to get between her and any rebound.

It was Alberta Auguste giving an unexpected first-half lift off the bench.

It was Sidney Spencer and Alexis Hornbuckle making timely baskets, if not a lot of them.

And, of course, it was about Candace Parker serving as a lightning rod for the Rutgers defense, making plays for her teammates and a few for herself.

When all the shaking and rattling and bumping and grinding was over, Tennessee was cutting down the nets.

Make that seven championships for the Lady Vols. Make that seven championships for coach Pat Summitt.

For a dozen years there - 1987-98 - championships almost fell off trees for Tennessee. If you missed one, no sweat. Another banner would be going up in Thompson-Boling Arena shortly.

But it seems like forever since No. 6, back in '98 when Chamique Holdsclaw & Co. were cutting down the nets in Kansas City to complete a three-peat.

So how did it feel, Pat Summitt, finally getting No. 7? A little sweeter? A tad more special after the long wait?

"Actually, no,'' Summitt said afterward. "And I'm just being honest with you.

"This is not about winning number seven. This is about this team winning their first.

"And all I can tell you is it was like another game. When I came here today it wasn't like we were playing for a national championship. Tonight, for me, it was all about helping this team.''

This team had stormed through its first four games along the tournament trail. But Summitt knew that wouldn't mean a thing when it got to Cleveland.

Tough, talented North Carolina waited in the semifinals. Then Rutgers or LSU, a couple of bruisers, would be lurking in the finals.

Before the Lady Vols left Knoxville, on a hot afternoon in Stokely Athletics Center, Summitt collected her players around her on the practice court and she told them this:

"This staff wants this championship so desperately for you ladies and we're going to work as hard as we can to get it for you."

"We wanted it so bad for this team,'' said assistant coach Dean Lockwood, "because they've done everything we asked them.

"At no point did they fight us. Because of that, we wanted it so bad for them.''

When Tennessee trailed North Carolina by 12 points with 8 minutes to play Sunday night, Summitt reminded the players again what their destiny should be.

"I said, 'We're not leaving here without a national championship.' Because I really believe this team deserved to be national champions.''

And so it is. For the first time.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.