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Candace Parker, the Tennessee Lady Vols great, two-time Olympic gold medal winner and two-time WNBA champion, nearly broke the internet Tuesday when she announced she was expecting her second child with her wife, Anna Petrakova, on their anniversary.
Parker, 35, said in an Instagram post that her and Petrakova married two years ago in a private ceremony with friends and family. The two-time WNBA champion was the top trending topic on Twitter in the hours after the announcement.
"My heart could have exploded," Parker wrote on Instagram. "I cried like a baby….To know me or you is to know our love. This journey hasn’t been easy. I am proud of us and what we have built and who we have grown to become both individually and together. Thank you for always loving Lailaa as your own."
Lailaa, Parker's 12-year-old daughter, will gain a sibling in the new year – Parker said in her post she has always dreamed of growing their family, and Lailaa "is pumped to be a big sister."
Born a year after Parker was drafted No. 1 overall by the Los Angeles Sparks, Lailaa has been by her mom's side Parker's whole WNBA career.
Parker has had an exciting year, to say the least, from being the first women on a NBA 2K video game cover to launching her signature shoe to going home to the Chicago Sky and winning her second WNBA title.
Petrakova played college basketball at Louisiana Lafayette and for Russia’s national team that placed fourth at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women's athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll.
