Paulus, WASA claim coveted NWBA Women’s Division wheelchair basketball title
Early on in Sunday afternoon’s National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Women’s Division National Championship title game, Moira Paulus wasn’t feeling too great about herself.
She wasn’t shooting well or playing like she’d hoped. But with one pass and a finishing layup late in the championship, the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA) Marquette Eagles player changed all that.
Paulus scored eight points, including four in the fourth quarter, to lift No. 3-seeded WASA to a 49-40 NWBA Women’s Division title-game win over the top-seeded and defending champ Arizona Storm at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. It marked WASA’s fourth NWBA Women’s Division title in five years and seventh overall.
Championship Game MVP and five-time U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball Paralympian Christina Schwab led WASA with 17 points, while five-time U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball Paralympian Natalie Schneider (12 points) and four-time U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball Paralympian Becca Murray (11 points) both scored in double-figures. But it was Paulus who came up clutch in the late moments.
WASA weathered another fourth-quarter drought. Leading by nine entering the period, Arizona rallied, cutting the Eagles’ lead to 41-37 with under 4 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Then, Murray grabbed a defensive rebound, launched a long one-handed outlet pass to a streaking Paulus downcourt. Paulus got to it, collected herself and made a layup to put the Eagles up 43-37 with 3 minutes and 31 seconds remaining.
“So, when I look back and I saw it was in her hands, I was like, ‘It’s coming, and it’s gonna be there right on target,’” Paulus says. “And you go up, I’m like a nervous player, but I was like, when you have your teammates around you and it seems so simple, it’s a layup. But it’s like all my teammates have confidence in me. I have confidence in them. Makes it so easy to play with them.”
But she wasn’t done just yet.
Arizona again trimmed the deficit, as two-time U.S. Paralympian women’s wheelchair basketball player Courtney Ryan hit a 3-pointer with 3:15 remaining. But Paulus made another basket to put WASA up 45-40 with 2:50 to go and then grabbed a rebound on the next play, which led to a Murray basket to give the Eagles a 47-40 lead with 2:05 to go.
Paulus, who developed transverse myelitis at age 8, played with WASA growing up, then went to college in 2020 and played wheelchair basketball at the University of Alabama for five years. She just returned to playing with the WASA Women’s Division team again this season.
“But to come back and just be welcomed with open arms and be able to hop on a court with all these girls who just believe in you and you believe in all of them, it’s a big play. But in that moment, they make it so easy,” Paulus says.
Ryan led Arizona with a game-high 23 points, while Emilee Gustafson added nine points, 2020 Sports N Spokes Junior Athlete of the Year Adrina Castro had four points, and two-time U.S. Paralympic women’s wheelchair basketball players Josie Aslakson and Jennifer Poist added two points apiece.
Lots of firsts For Dallas Wheelchair Mavs
It was only fitting that the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Military Division was captured by a veteran coach.
Marine Corps veteran Christina Henry just cemented herself with a handful of firsts. She just guided the first-year NWBA Military Division program Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks to their first national title in her first year as their head coach. She also became the second woman to guide a Military Division team to a title, joining Melanie Brionez who coached the NMCSD Wolfpack to the 2024 Military Division championship.
No. 4 seed Dallas rode the inside presence of Championship Game MVP Blake McMinn and his 26 points, while Antoine Gray added 10 in the Wheelchair Mavs’ 59-44 victory over the No. 6-seeded Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) Hawks on Sunday at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Henry served in the Marines from 1999-2023 as a supply clerk and a war planner, retiring in 2023 as a lieutenant colonel. And she says this title means plenty to the state — and to bring a second straight Military Division championship home to Texas.
“We’ve been able to take a team and a group of veterans and unite the state; got half the team from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, have some guys from San Antonio, Killeen and also Houston. And so, coming in, our team motto was, ‘We are Texas,’” says Henry, who now serves as a head principal at the International Leadership of Texas Arlington-Grand Prairie High School in Grand Prairie, Texas.
They went big like Texas does — big inside.
McMinn dominated the post, scoring 10 points in the third quarter and 16 points in the second half. Dallas led just 45-39 with under 5 minutes left in the fourth period, but McMinn scored five points — hitting 1-of-2 free throws, adding a basket and a putback hoop on an offensive rebound — during a 6-0 run that boosted the Wheelchair Mavs’ lead to 51-39 with 2:30 to play.
He’s one of a handful of players including Juan Soto (eight points) and Jason Rainey (two points), who played on last year’s NWBA Military Division title-winning San Antonio Grunts team.
“Got the ball to Blake consistently, for sure. Blake one of our team captains, huge leader on defense. And Soto, our other team captain — huge, huge leader for us on offense,” Henry says. “So, without the two of them as facilitators and their leadership on the court, certainly would have been a bit more challenging.”
Eric Rodriguez led LWSRA with 19 points, while LeToi Adams added 12. Big man Anthony Pone was held to just five points, while Keith Cooper and Robert York had four points apiece.
Nakia Merritte added six points for Dallas, while Charles Armstead had five points and Dean Knowles added two points.
NWBA Championship Series Military Division Tournament
April 12
Third-Place
No. 7 Colorado Silverbacks 60, No. 1 Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch (WWAR 52)
Championship
No. 4 Dallas Wheelchair Mavs 59, No. 6 Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) Hawks 44
NWBA Championship Series Women’s Division Tournament
April 12
11th-Place Game
No. 14 Cleveland Rockers 43, No. 10 Phoenix Mercury 24
Ninth-Place Game
No. 11 Virginia Vortex 34, No. 9 PNW Reign 32
Third-Place Game
No. 2 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 56, No. 4 Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) Hawks 28
Championship
No. 3 Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA) Marquette Eagles 49, No. 1 Arizona Storm 40