UA's wheelchair hoops team wins national title

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama can add another national championship to its collection, just not in football.

The university's four-person women's team recently won the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Championship in Denver, winning four games in three days. The team was comprised of Stephanie Wheeler, Mary Allison Milford, Janet McLachlan and Tara Feser.

Wheeler, Milford and former Alabama player Alana Nichols also played on the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the 2008 Paralympics Games in Beijing. Wheeler was named the tournament MVP in adding a second title to her playing days.

"It definitely ranks up there with winning a gold medal. It's another historic win for the team," said Wheeler, both a player and assistant coach.

Alabama is one of only four schools in the country with both a men's and women's wheelchair basketball team. The women's team was started six years ago.

The foursome had the key ingredients for any good basketball team, according to Brent Hardin, UA's director of disability sports.

"We have the inside-outside game. We have the height and speed," Hardin said. "Really we have all the things that you need to win. Last year we had almost all of it, but we didn't have that big height."

Alabama beat the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Arizona and then topped Illinois twice to capture the title. Illinois had eliminated Alabama with a one-point victory in last year's championship game.

"I went to the University of Illinois and won three national championships with them, but it's a lot sweeter now that we knocked them off," coach Margaret Stran said.

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Information from: The Tuscaloosa News, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com