Bama Women Sweep UA Early College Classic, Remain Unbeaten in College Play

The University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team entered the UA Early College Classic undefeated in NWBA Intercollegiate Division play at 11-0.

At the conclusion of the Classic, the Crimson Tide remained unbeaten in college play, adding four more wins to their record.

The result of the final game of the Classic, a 62-48 win over the University of Texas at Arlington on the afternoon of Jan. 20, was the team’s narrowest margin of victory in division play so far this season.

Alabama led Texas-Arlington 19-16 after one quarter, trailed 28-27 at halftime, and led 40-38 after three quarters.

“UTA did some really nice things and, for us, it was just a matter of kind of figuring it out and taking what they were giving us, which we started to do a little bit more in the second half,” said Alabama coach Ryan Hynes.

See also: Women's Wheelchair Basketball Overcomes Early Deficit to Sweep Powerade Invitational, Remain Unbeaten in Intercollegiate Play

Alabama scored the first six points of the fourth quarter as part of a 14-4 run to open the final quarter.

“Defensively, we were able to make some adjustments and buckle down a little bit more,” said Hynes. “And then offensively, we started making some of those bunnies that we were missing early in the game.”

The final six points of that run were all scored by senior Abby Bauleke.

Six of sophomore Ixhelt Gonzalez’s team-high 15 points came in the fourth quarter.

Gonzalez was one of four Alabama players to have double-digit points in the win along with graduate student Joy Haizelden’s 13 points, senior Mary Silberman’s 12 points, and graduate student Loeiza Vari Le Roux’s 12 points.

Alabama senior Mary Silberman (10) had 12 points in the Crimson Tide's 62-48 win over the University of Texas at Arlington on Jan. 20 as part of the UA Early College Classic

(photo courtesy of Alabama Adapted Athletics)

“They were giving the littles a lot of looks, and we were not afraid to take them,” said Hynes. “And for our 1s and our 1.5s, especially, being able to knock them down in some pressure-packed situations in a tight game like that is huge, but I think it just speaks to the balance of the team.”

Le Roux is a 1.0 player, and Bauleke is a 1.5 player.

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (the national governing body for wheelchair basketball in the United States) website explains, “Players are classified as belonging to one of 8 classes: 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5,3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. The higher the player’s classification on the court, the greater the player’s functional ability. In the NWBA teams are allowed a maximum of 15 points on the court at any given time among the five players.”

See also: Bama Men Unable to Turn the Tide Against Arizona

Alabama opened the UA Early College Classic with a pair of wins on Jan. 19, 58-25 over the University of Arizona and a 63-40 win over the University of Illinois, and an 81-19 win over the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater earlier on Jan. 20.

Silberman was the team’s leading scorer in the win over Arizona with 19 points. Silberman and Haizelden each had a team-high 14 points in the win over Illinois, with Gonzalez and senior Bailey Moody adding ten each. Silberman had a team-high 17 points in the win over Wisconsin-Whitewater with four other Alabama players scoring in the double digits: Gonzalez and freshman Mary McLendon with 13 points each and senior Moira Paulus and Moody with 10 points each.

Alabama senior Bailey Moody (43) pictured in action during Alabama's 62-48 win over the University of Texas at Arlington on Jan. 20 as part of the UA Early College Classic

(photo courtesy of Alabama Adapted Athletics)

Alabama’s win over Texas-Arlington was its fourth win over the Mavericks this season. The other three games, a 54-35 win on Dec. 8, a 68-48 win on Dec. 9, and a 66-48 win on Jan. 12, had accounted for Alabama’s three other narrowest margins of victory on the season so far, so Le Roux was expecting another close game.

The two teams play once more on Feb. 9.

Last season, Alabama went 18-0 in college play en route to a national championship. 17 of those 18 wins came by more than 30 points, including a 78-34 win over Arizona in the national championship tournament semifinals and an 88-41 victory of Texas-Arlington in the national championship final.

So far this season eight of the Crimson Tide’s 15 victories have come by fewer than 30 points including the 14-point margin of victory over Texas-Arlington at the UA Early College Classic that saw the team overcome a one-point halftime deficit.

“It shows that we have had to overcome some adversity,” said Le Roux. “Last year we didn’t really have much adversity; we won the national championship by over 40 points. We are getting better, but so is the competition. We know we need to continue to work at practice.”