Candace Parker made history by dunking in an NCAA Tournament game on March 19, 2006.
About 20 minutes later, she repeated the feat.
On the 20th anniversary of the historic dunk against Army, and eve of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, a new generation of women’s college basketball players reflected on its significance.
A Moment That Showed What Women Are Capable Of
North Carolina center Blanca Thomas said it shows women are capable of what men can do as well.
Nyla Harris commented on Parker’s impact on basketball and how the dunk captured the attention of audiences around the world.
“It’s huge to give her her flowers,” Harris said.
Maryland starting guard Saylor Poffenbarger recognised the importance of this moment.
“It was just the start to showing the abilities that women have too,” Poffenbarger said.
Dunking and Perceptions of the Women’s Game
The presence of dunking in the men’s game has been used as an argument for it being more entertaining than the women’s game.
Harris described the differences between the men’s and women’s game, saying the women’s game is more structured while the men’s is more one-on-one.
To her, the addition of players dunking is one more reason for fans to follow the women’s game.
“It’s gonna bring more attention, and I think it’s gonna make people kind of look at it like, really, what is the difference between the men’s game and the women’s game?” she said.
Maryland forward Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu taught herself how to dunk and did it once during warmups before one of her high school games.
She poked fun at the idea of using dunks to compare the men’s and women’s games.
“If I start dunking, people better start coming to watch basketball games,” Ozzy-Momodu said.
It was impossible to watch SportsCenter that day without seeing Parker slam the ball down.
Tatum Esparza is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.