Evina Westbrook wanted so much to not like Tennessee.The 6-foot guard from South Salem, Oregon, had heard a gazillion times how the Lady Vols already had three Oregonians on their roster and how she could -- yippee! -- be the fourth to come to Knoxville in short order.Problem was, thats not what Westbrook wanted at all.That really turned me off, said Westbrook, the No. 2 player in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 for the 2017 class. I never wanted to go to a school where other girls in my state had been.But thats exactly what happened. Westbrook fell in love with Tennessee -- more on that later -- and became a part of the Lady Vols family when she signed a national letter of intent last week.Three of Tennessees five starters are Oregonians: senior guard Jordan Reynolds of Portlands Central Catholic; junior wing Jaime Nared of Portlands Westview and junior center Mercedes Russell of Springfield.But Westbrook wont play with Reynolds, whose eligibility expires after this season. And shell get only one season with Nared and Russell.Indeed, Westbrooks career figures to be much more tied to three women not from the Beaver State -- her fellow 2017 recruits at Tennessee.Its a spectacular group: 5-7 point guard Anastasia Hayes of Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tennessee); 6-2 wing Rennia Davis of Ribault (Jacksonville, Florida); and 6-4 center Kasiyahna Kushkituah of St. Francis (Alpharetta, Georgia).Hayes is ranked ninth in the nation, Davis No. 12 and Kushkituah No. 55. Davis was the last commit, making that decision on Tuesday, signing on Wednesday and announcing on Sunday to give the Volunteers class a Fab Four feel. Not to mention the No. 1 class in the country.Coach Holly Warlick, who has spent more than three decades on the Tennessee campus, first as an All-American point guard, then as a long-time assistant coach to the late Pat Summitt and now in her fifth season running the program, is delighted. Her struggles on the recruiting trail a year ago, after all, were well documented. The top 2016 prospect in the state even dared to defect to Connecticut.But as good as these Tennessee recruits are, Warlick is just as pleased at how she envisions their talents meshing.Fifteen years ago, Warlick said, we had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, but it didnt work because we didnt have the right combination.The Volunteers think they have the right combo now.Hayes leads offThe Tennessee kid, Hayes was the first player in the class to commit, deciding on Sept. 25, the last day of her campus visit. Tennessee had hosted and beaten the Florida Gators in that weekends football game, and Hayes and her family were there at Neyland Stadium, standing on the sidelines and singing Rocky Top with 100,000 or so like-minded individuals.As she looked above her and saw a sea of orange, Hayes turned to her sisters and said, I love it here. I think this is where I need to be.Her sisters agreed.Later, Hayes told her dad what she was thinking. Annie, he said. I love it here, too.That was all Hayes needed. She gave the good news to Warlick, and then Hayes did something else noteworthy: She started texting Westbrook, Davis and Kushkituah -- girls she knew from the AAU circuit and Team USA trials -- encouraging them to come to Knoxville, too.Think of it as her first assist.Kids want to see who they will be playing with, Warlick said. For Annie to commit ... it started the ball rolling. And then for her -- on her own -- to pick up the phone and call [other recruits], that was huge.Its never just about herself with Annie. She wants to build a great program, and she doesnt care who gets the credit.Tennessee is getting a stellar talent in Hayes, who averaged 19.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists as a junior last season, earning all-Tennessee honors. Warlick praised Hayes mental toughness and competitiveness, and Tom Insell, Hayes AAU coach with the Tennessee Flight, has talked about her motor.She has the quickest first step of any player Ive ever coached, and I have more than 20 players in the pros right now, Insell said. Shes a little undersized, but she makes up for it with quickness and leaping.As good as Hayes is, she swears her little sisters are just as good, if not better. Aislynn is a sophomore at Riverdale; Alasia is a freshman at Riverdale; and Acacia, 12, may be the best of them all. All three have said they will follow Hayes to Tennessee.All business for KushkituahKushkituah said her new school fits her to a T -- as in Tennessee -- because she wants to enter the universitys entrepreneurship and marketing program.I want to own my own store, something similar to Forever 21, said Kushkituah, who was the second player in the Tennessee class to commit. And I want to sell cupcakes in the store. When my customers buy something, they will get a free cupcake.That dream is still off in the future. For now, Kushkituah is focused on basketball. She averaged 10.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks as a junior, shooting 53 percent from the floor. Better yet, she has led St. Francis to two straight Class A state titles.She has a big future in college and at the next level, Warlick said. Academically, she fits in perfectly. She has a path down which she wants to go, and we have one of the best business schools, especially our MBA program.Kushkituah said she felt a comfort level with the community and found the entire environment extremely supportive.As a bonus, the campus is just a four-hour drive from her Georgia home.After academics and comfort level, basketball was the third thing on Kushkituahs checklist, and she liked what saw there, too.Coach Holly is a great role model because of her success as a player and a coach, Kushkituah said. She is very caring. The night I called her to tell her I was coming, we both got very sensitive.Asked if she cried, Kushkituah said: Something like that. It was such a long [recruiting] process. I was so happy to get it over with.Head east, WestbrookKushkituah and Westbrook took their Tennessee recruiting visit on the same weekend, Sept. 16-18.The players bonded and found they had more in common than just basketball.Everyone who knows me knows that my favorite drink is chocolate milk, Kushkituah said. When they took us out to a fancy restaurant, and Evina ordered chocolate milk, I looked at her. I said, You like chocolate milk? And she said thats all she drinks.Is that the slurping sound of kismet we hear?Signing Westbrook, who averaged 19.5 points last season and led South Salem to its second straight state title, was huge. She also won two straight national championships while playing for her AAU Cal Stars team. And she earned a gold medal with U18 Team USA over the summer at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Chile.After narrowing her choices to also include Oregon State, Notre Dame, Southern Cal and Maryland, Westbrook finally chose the Volunteers last Thursday.It was a tough decision, Westbrook said. Calling the other [four] schools... and having that talk was a pretty hard conversation.Westbrook said she was gratified when Oregon State coach Scott Rueck told her he would try to schedule the Volunteers so she could have a homecoming game.As for the Tennessee class, Westbrook said it will surely put a target on the backs of all four recruits.We have to come in and prove that this class is no joke, Westbrook said. We have to come in and do some damage.But Im not nervous at all. Im more excited than anything.Westbrook said what turned her from a Tennessee skeptic to a willing Volunteer was that she fell in love with the people -- from the players already on the roster, to the coaches and support staff and the large number of orange-clad fans who attend games.Her bond with the players was immediate, and junior guard Diamond DeShields gave her particularly good advice.Diamond said that you are only going to be the best by pushing yourself and working out beyond what you do with the team, Westbrook said. Thats why so many high school players drop off -- they stop doing those little things that got them there.Go fourth!Davis has done the big things so far in her high school career. She averaged 20.3 points and 10.4 rebounds last season at Ribault and led her team to the state title. She was named Floridas Class 5A player of the year. She led her team to a national title at the Dicks Sporting Goods national tournament at Madison Square Garden. She was the MVP of that tournament with 43 points and 21 rebounds in two games.But Tennessee didnt see it, at least not initially.Davis said Maryland had been recruiting her since her freshman year, and Georgia Tech followed. Tennessee didnt join until this past March.At first, I was close-minded to any school recruiting me during this past AAU season, said Davis, mentioning that Kansas and Oklahoma also joined the picture. If you didnt see potential in me at first, dont try to see it now.Davis said she was being so stubborn that she initially refused to visit Tennessee.But [AAU coach Kimberly Davis Powell] opened me up, Davis said. She explained that if the previous recruiting class didnt go well, teams are going to start looking at other players.Tennessee didnt get any guards in the class before me, and thats why it was important they signed Evina, Annie and me.Confident in her abilities, Davis feels she is the go-to scorer the class was missing. She sees Kushkituah in the post, Westbrook and Hayes distributing and scoring as needed in the backcourt ... and she sees herself as that true scorer on the wing.Davis was ultimately swayed by two factors: Tennessees chances at winning a national title with the class the Vols have put together; and the business school at Knoxville that also attracted Kushkituah. But while Kushkituah wants to own a clothing store, with cupcakes of course, Davis dream is to open a soul-food restaurant.And as Davis was trying to decide between her finalists, something (or somebody) got her attention.Annie [Hayes] is so determined to play with a good group of freshmen, Davis said, she was texting me a lot.Annie wants to win. I like a player like that who respects her role, responds to winning and doesnt have to get all the attention.Cheap Penguins Jerseys . 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PETERSBURG, Fla.Indias Sakshi Malik pulled off a minor miracle to overturn a 5-0 deficit against reigning Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, clocking eight points in the second period of play to win Indias first ever womens wrestling medal in the 58kg category on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Sakshis bronze is also the first medal won by India at the 2016 Olympics and she becomes?the first Indian to have won a medal on Olympic debut.My hard work has paid off and I have lived up to Indias expectations by becoming the first female wrestler to win a medal for the country, Sakshi said later. I hope that the other Indian wrestlers who are yet to compete will win more medals for India. I had faith in my ability and knew that I all I had to do was hang on till the end. Going into the repechage round I was confident of winning a medal and gave it my all.The bout started in a cagey manner. Sakshi was the first to attack her opponent, following a failed attack on her leg by Tynybekova, but failed to open her account. Sakshi was penalised for passivity around halfway through the first period, following which Tynybekova was able to register four points on the bounce with swift grabs of Sakshis ankles to take a 5-0 lead into the halfway mark of the bout. Sakshi showed her match awareness by swiftly moving out of bounds on both attacks to keep the damage to a minimum.In the early part of the second period, Sakshi tried to attack her opponents leg, but Tynybekova was able to keep her defence intact to begin with. With just two minutes left on the clock, Sakshi went on an aggressive blitz, and was able to bring herself to parity with just a few seconds left, scoring 2, 2 and 1. At that stage, though the score was 5-5, the bronze was within reach of Tynybekova as she had pulled off the higher scoring manoeuvre for the match. But Sakshi took the attack to her opponent in the last five seconds and was able to turn her over at the edge of the danger zone. The score was 7-5 as the time ran out, and the Indian corner started celebrating even as the Kyrgyzstan corner lodged a protest. Their referral was rejected, however, and a penalty point added to India to make it an 8-5 win on points.Earlier in the day, Sakshi had to come back from facing a deficit midway through both her first bouts, beating Johanna Mattsson of Sweden 5-4 and then Mariana Cherdivara 5-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash with former world championship silver medallist Valeriia Koblova of Russia. Koblova overcame some stiff resistance from Sakshi to post a 9-2 victory, and then went through to set up a final against Kaori Icho of Japan, which opened up a path for Sakshi to win a bronze medal via repechage.She beat Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia 12-3 to set up the bronze medal match against Tynybekova. The win over Tynybekova has made Sakshi the first Indian to have secured a wrestling medal on an Olympic debut.She also becomes the fourth Indian to have won wrestling medals at the Olympics after Khashaba Jadhav (bronze in 1952), Sushil Kumar (bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in 2012). Sakshis finish is now the best by far for an Indian woman at the Olympics -- Geeta Phogat was eliminated in the 55 kg round of 16 in 2012, while Geetas cousin Vinesh had to withdraw during her 48 kg quarterfinal earlier on Wednesday.Sakshi had begun aggressively against Purevdorj -- best known for having snapped three-time Olympic champion Kaori Ichos 13-year-old unbeaten streak at the Krasnoyarsk Grand Prix in January - and registered the first two points of the bout inside the first 10 seconds. Purevdorj would fight back with a takedown of her own to take the bout 2-2 into the breather betweeen the three-minute periods.ddddddddddddSakshi was penalised one point for passivity early in the second period, but then effected a double-leg takedown to take the initiative in the bout. From then on, it appeared to be one-way traffic as Sakshi effected three successive takedowns that gave her two points for each move, eventually winning with a margin close enough for technical superiority.Sakshi had begun the day with two come-from-behind victories, 5-4 over Johanna Mattsson of Sweden and 5-5 against Mariana Cherdivara of Moldova, before she was beaten 9-2 by Valeriia Koblova of Russia in the quarterfinals. Since Koblova advanced to set up a final clash against the reigning three-time champion Icho, Sakshi has been given a chance through repechage to fight for bronze.Koblova, the 2014 World Championship silver medalist, was the first to register a point in the quarterfinal, when Sakshi was penalised for passivity on the 1 minute, 14 second mark. The rest of the first period saw both wrestlers looking for openings by attacking the leg, but good defensive counters saw the Russian take a 1-0 lead to the second period.The second period began well for Sakshi, as she pushed Koblova off the mat close to the four-minute mark to take a 2-1 lead. When Sakshi went for her next attack, Koblova showed great technical prowess to convert it into an attacking position, lodging four points on the trot and nearly pinning Sakshi in the process. Though the Indian wrestler was able to get herself out of that lock, she found herself trailing 7-2 and had to throw caution to the winds in the dying seconds of the match, which Koblova took advantage of to nearly complete a pinfall for the second time. She was given two points though, as she won by a comfortable seven-point margin.In her earlier matches, Sakshi had come back from 4-0 down to beat Johanna Mattsson of Sweden 5-4, before beating Mariana Cherdivara 5-5 after trailing 3-0 at the halfway point of the round of 16 bout.Cherdivara, who had picked up the silver at the 2011 junior world championships, started in a more aggressive manner, forcing Sakshi on to the back foot. At the minute mark, the referee cautioned Sakshi for passivity, following which she was given 30 seconds to register a point. Cherdivara defended stoutly, and the penalty point went to the Moldovan at the end of the 30 seconds. On the two-minute mark, Sakshi went for the leg of her opponent, but failed to turn her over, which Cherdivara capitalised on to lodge two points and take a 3-0 lead at the break.In the second period, it was Cherdivara who was penalised for passivity, and Sakshi would lodge her first point as a result, leaving the match poised at 3-1. Soon after, Sakshi would attack Cherdivaras leg again to execute a perfect double-leg takedown, that took her up 5-3. Even though Cherdivara responded with a two-point manoeuvre towards the closing stages of the second period, the final score of 5-5 left Sakshi the winner by separation criteria, as she had the single highest scoring move.Earlier, she became first Indian female wrestler to win a bout at the Olympics. Mattson, who won a bronze at the World Championships in 2010 and is ranked three in the world, led 4-0 at the end of the first round after she put Sakshi in the danger position.In the second period, Sakshi won two points after managing to push Mattson out of the mat. Sakshi, whos appearing in her maiden Olympics, went for the kill in the second round and added another point with twenty seconds to go when she pushed Mattson out of the mat again. ' ' '