TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team will host the University of Illinois team in the Alabama Wheelchair Basketball Classic on Thursday, Jan. 12, in the UA Student Recreation Center.
The Crimson Tide will play at 7 p.m. immediately following a men’s wheelchair basketball game at 5:30 p.m. that features the fourth-ranked University of Illinois men’s team against the top-ranked University of Texas Arlington team.
Crimson Tide fans are encouraged to “paint the gym crimson” by wearing crimson shirts to the event. The sponsor for the Alabama Wheelchair Basketball Classic is Per4Max Wheelchairs. Admission is free.
The Crimson Tide and Fighting Illini both compete in the women’s division of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, known as the NWBA. The Crimson Tide is coming off a run to the final four last season and is currently ranked fourth in the NWBA women’s division.
The women’s game will be a test for the young Alabama team as the Illinois team has won the women’s wheelchair basketball national championship three of the last four years and is a favorite to win the title again this season, says Dr. Brent Hardin, director of UA Disability sports. “In the world of women’s wheelchair basketball this is the equivalent of our men’s team playing Duke,” he notes.
The high-powered men’s match pairs two past champions of the NWBA men’s college division who are contenders for the championship again this year, Hardin adds.
Following the games on campus, all four teams will travel to the Pioneer Classic at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham for two more days of tournament play. For more information about UA Disability Sports or the UA Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team, contact Hardin at 205/348-5109 and go to www.bama.ua.edu/~uads.
Contact
Linda Hill, UA Media Relations, 205/348-8325, lhill@ur.ua.edu
Source
Dr. Brent Hardin, director of UA Disability Sports, 205/348-5109, bhardin@ua.edu