UA wheelchair team beats Team Canada

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team hosted the world champion Canadian national team on Friday night for the first of a two-game set against the Canadian split squad teams in what figured to be a good challenge for both teams.

The only challenge the Tide had was not running up the score as UA rolled over the Canadian squad B team 74-40 in a game that saw UA out-quick, out-hustle and out-play the team from north of the border.

UA jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, and the game was nearly five minutes old before the Canadians scored their first bucket.

After eight minutes, the Tide held a 14-4 lead and dominated the rest of the half to take a 28-16 lead into intermission.

The Tide’s strategy to use its quickness to trap the Canadians worked to perfection as UA established the pace of play against the bigger, stronger Canadian team.

Getting pressure from guards Stephanie Wheeler and freshman Katie Harnock, UA created two-on-one opportunities on the offensive side of the court while pressuring the Canadian team into turnovers and missed shots.

“I think we played a great game tonight,” Harnock said. “It felt good to play a good game against a great team.”

Harnock should know how good the Canadian team is. After all she is from Canada and knows the Canadian team personally.

“I like playing against them,” she said. “I haven’t seen some of them in so long and, it’s a chance for them to see how much I’ve improved since I’ve been here.”

Harnock found out about Alabama from fellow teammate and Canadian Karla Tritten.

“She would come back home and tell me how great everything was here, and I came for a visit and just fell in love with everything here,” she said.

Tritten recommended Harnock to Brent Hardin, director and founder of both the women’s and men’s team.

“I just knew that this was the place for me,” Harnock said. “The campus, Brent and the team -- it was just the right situation for me.”

The UA Canadian duo scored a combined 36 points, with Tritten netting a game high 21 points and Harnock adding 15 on lay ups created by UA’s motion offense.

Wheeler scored nine points, but more importantly served as the Tide’s defensive ace. She harassed the Canadians all night and eventually wore them down.

The Canadian team never found its rhythm and committed unforced errors that the Tide turned into points.

“That was our game plan coming in,” Hardin said. “We knew we couldn’t play in the post with them because of their size, so we had to use our quickness to our advantage.

“That’s our style of play. We have to keep the other team’s bigs away from the hoop.

The Tide will face the more athletic Canadian squad A team today at 2 p.m.

The UA men’s wheelchair team will square off against the University of Arkansas today at 9 a.m.