Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball captures 4th straight national title

By: WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Grace Brister

The Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball beat University of Texas-Arlington, 88-41 to capture its fourth straight national championship.

This is the program’s ninth national title overall.

Graduate Student Lindsey Zurbrugg finished the championship game with 15 points and 12 assists. She was named the Most Valuble Player of the title game.

Zurbrugg said her final minutes on the court will be something she never forgets.

“This was absolutely amazing,” Zurbrugg said. “This was my last minutes I’m ever playing in college. To go out with a ‘W’ is an absolutely incredible feeling.”

Zurbrugg said that what made her most happy about the day was not the MVP award, but it was seeing the excitement on her teammates faces.

“Probably my favorite part about it is getting our freshman the ring,” Zurbrugg said. “They don’t have a ring yet, and seeing the joy on their faces, the joy of going through the whole process, (such as) sharing skills, shooting, practice five days a week, and all the extra stuff, to see their faces all say its worth it. That kind of just made it a perfect moment for me.”

Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Head Coach Ryan Hynes said his team worked hard all year to achieve this goal.

“Just the way that we came together made that performance really dominant,” Hynes said. “I just couldn’t be more proud of them. We knew exactly what we wanted to do, and the girls executed close to perfection. I knew we had the talent, it was just a matter of us all coming together.”

The Alabama men’s team looks to bring home a national title this week. The men’s wheelchair basketball team is the second seed in the national championship tournament, which begins Thursday in Whitewater, Wis.