Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball brought home its 12th national title Saturday, its sixth national title in a row.
Alabama went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, facing off against the University of Illinois and breezing past the Fighting Illini 61-49.
In the championship matchup, the Crimson Tide faced the University of Texas at Arlington, the same team Alabama has defeated the past three years to win the national title.
“To be able to beat a great team like Texas-Arlington in the championship game just shows how special this team really is and has been all season,” head coach Ryan Hynes said in a statement. “UTA is a very talented team, and we had some extremely tight battles with them this year, including dropping two close games during the regular season.”
Alabama’s defense limited UTA’s shooting to 27.9% from the field, allowing the Crimson Tide to pull off its 55-37 defeat.
“Our defensive effort and execution was unbelievable, and we ended the half tied at 20,” Hynes said in a statement. “The second half, our defense maintained, and our offense finally started clicking at the end of the third quarter and continued into the fourth.”
Junior Ixhelt Gonzalez led Alabama in points against UTA with 24, shooting 9/17 from the field. Graduate student Bailey Moody was close behind Gonzalez with 12 points, along with a team high of 16 rebounds.
“This was honestly one of my most enjoyable seasons as a coach,” Hynes said. “This is a ridiculously special group.”
