Lakeshore Wins On Buzzer-Beater To Advance To Semifinals
Two mid-afternoon Junior Varsity Division games came down to last-second heroics to determine a winner in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Wheelchair Basketball Championships’ first day Friday at Wichita Hoops in Bel Aire, Kan.
Top-seeded Lakeshore Foundation’s J’ahkyra Daniels banked in hers to send the Lakers to a 40-38 victory over No. 8 seed BlazeSports Junior Hawks Red and into the semifinals, while the fourth-seeded Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple got some last-second free throws from Adam Smith for a 73-70 overtime victory over the No. 5 seed Cincinnati Dragons to lift them them there, too.
Daniels’ was an exciting and emotional one.
Tied at 38 with 5.1 seconds remaining, Lakeshore called a timeout to set up an inbounds play. And second-year coach Savannah Gardner thought they executed it to perfection.
From just left of mid-court, Daniel Pittman threw an inbounds pass into Jackson Home. Home caught the ball at mid-court, wheeled to the right side and lofted a short pass to Jian Jackson. Jackson caught the ball at the top left of the 3-point line, drove inside and made a pass inside right to Daniels underneath the hoop. Even with a defender in her face, Daniels banked in the short layup underneath just as the buzzer sounded — lifting Lakeshore to the victory.
“It felt good,” said Daniels, who has familial spastic paraplegia, which is a muscle disorder that causes weakness and stiffness in her legs. “When I shot it, I knew it was going in. But when I first caught the ball, I felt a little nervous ’cause I knew I had to put it up because the shot clock was running down.”
Teammates mobbed and hugged Daniels afterward. The 19-year-old Birmingham, Ala., resident admitted it was emotional for her, especially having lost both her parents three months apart in 2021 — her dad, Josiah, to heart problems and mom, Theresa, to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). It marked the first game-winning shot of Daniels’ career. But she credited her teammates for her success.
“It was really about, like, my teammates just having faith in me and trust in me that I could make a shot,” Daniels said. “Like Jian, she created space for me, so I could have the open look. So, I think that was a big part of it.”
Meanwhile, Smith and the Rollin’ Hornets had a wild ride over the last few minutes against the Dragons.
Trailing 63-61 with time ticking down in regulation, Smith made two free throws to tie the game at 63 with 7 seconds left. Cincinnati couldn’t get a shot off, and the game went into overtime.
Late in the extra period, Smith played a role again. With Charlotte leading 71-70 and 14.3 seconds left, the Dragons fouled him, and he went to the foul line. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but teammate Kaden Bagley snagged the offensive rebound and passed it back to Smith, who the Dragons fouled again with 10.2 seconds remaining. The 17-year-old high-school junior made the most of the second chance.
He made both free throws to push Charlotte’s lead to 73-70, and Cincinnati’s Gabe Taylor missed a 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left — giving the Rollin’ Hornets the victory.
“As soon as they fouled me, I was just pointing at him [Kaden] and I was just complimenting him on the offensive rebounds. And I just kept saying, ‘Oh, he bailed me out. Oh, he bailed me out,’” Smith said.
A Waxhaw, N.C., resident, Smith was happy to move on — and Charlotte will meet Lakeshore in one of Saturday’s semifinals.
“It means everything. We’ve got five seniors on the team. I just want to win one more for them,” said Smith, who was born with spina bifida. “And I just one to win one more for my teammate and best friend, Preston (Howell IV). We’re on a mission this year.”
Taylor Wins 3-Point Contest
Enough Cincinnati Dragons teammates got on Gabe Taylor to compete in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championship 3-point contest that he finally caved.
Without their insistence, he wouldn’t have done it — and then won it.
Taylor captured the 2023 NWBA Junior Wheelchair Basketball 3-point contest Friday at Wichita Hoops in Bel Aire, Kan., showcasing his sharpshooting skills. He defeated Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple player Adam Smith, 16-8, in the championship, to take home the title.
“Everybody was telling me to do it. I just gave up,” Taylor said.
His quick-firing ability helped him earn the title. That was a nice boost for the 18-year-old high school senior, born with spina bifida, who signed on to play wheelchair basketball at the University of Alabama and will be joining the Crimson Tide this coming fall.
This year’s 3-point tournament featured three rounds, with the top eight advancing into the semifinals and the top two moving on to the final. Players squared off against each other on each end of the court, and each player had 60 seconds to make as many 3-pointers as he or she could from anywhere on the court. Each player had five basketballs on his or her shooting station, with the first four counting as one point and the fifth — a red, white and blue ball — as the bonus ball counting as three points.
After reaching double-digit points in the first round, Taylor still thought he could score more. That he did. He totaled 14 points in the semifinals and then 16 in the final round, hitting a couple of bonus balls.
“I just tried to get up as many shots up as I could, and somehow put it up and won it,” Taylor said. “I realized how many I had go in in the first round and then the second and third round, I tried to make it in faster and ended up putting in more.”
Taylor’s semifinal round was nearly double that of his closest semifinal opponents. While he had 14 points, Smith and Brooks Bullsharks’ Kai Adams each had eight and had to go to a shootout to see who would reach the final. Smith won that handily and moved on, but he couldn’t connect on enough shots in the final.
Taylor plans to major in computer science at Alabama. Besides wheelchair basketball, he also loves video games, including NBA 2K, Madden and Call of Duty. When he was 12 or 13 years old, he started watching YouTube videos on how video games were created and that sparked a passion. Now, he’s been programming websites and videos and hopes to create video games in the future.
“Ever since that, I’ve been stuck on wanting to be a software developer,” Taylor said.
National Wheelchair Basketball Association Wheelchair Basketball National Championships
Junior Varsity Championships Day 1
March 24 At Wichita Hoops in Bel Aire, Kan.
First Round
No. 1 Lakeshore Lakers 37, Rancho Halos 15
No. 8 BlazeSports Junior Hawks Red 42, No. 9 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 36
No. 4 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple 61, No. 13 Mad City Badgers 43
No. 5 Cincinnati Dragons 72, No. 12 Nebraska Red Dawgs 34
No. 6 Courage Kenny Junior Rolling Timberwolves 40, No. 11 Junior Road Warriors 13
No. 3 Bennett Blazers 68, No. 14 Mississippi Wheelcats 48
No. 7 New York Rolling Fury 50, No. 10 LWSRA Junior Hawks 41
No. 2 Kansas City Kings A 58, No. 15 Ryan Martin Foundation Tigers 35
Consolation Bracket
No. 9 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 49, No. 16 Rancho Halos 34
No. 12 Nebraska Red Dawgs 42, No. 13 Mad City Badgers 21
No. 14 Mississippi Wheelcats 67, No. 11 Junior Road Warriors 59 (3 OT)
No. 15 Ryan Martin Foundation Tigers 54, No. 10 LWSRA Junior Hawks 48
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Lakeshore Lakers 40, No. 8 BlazeSports Junior Hawks Red 38
No. 4 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple 73, No. 5 Cincinnati Dragons 70 (OT)
No. 3 Bennett Blazers 69, No. 6 Courage Kenny Junior Rolling Timberwolves 60
No. 2 Kansas City Kings A 66, No. 7 New York Rolling Fury 54
Varsity Invitational Division
First Round
No. 17 Brooks Bullsharks 59, No. 32 Ability360 Phoenix Wheelchair Suns 26
No. 24 WASA Marquette Eagles 57, No. 25 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Teal 37
No. 20 DASA Rolling Rams 49, No. 29 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 29
No. 21 Synergy Junior Bulls 67, No. 28 Iowa Grizzlies 37
No. 22 ATX (Austin) 48, No. 27 Fairfax Falcons 23
No. 19 Kansas City Kings B 46, No. 30 Katie’s Komets 23
No. 23 RHI Turnstone 53, No. 26 Wichita Wildfire 32
No. 18 Utah Rush 51, No. 31 Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers 26
Consolation Bracket
No. 25 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Teal 45, No. 32 Ability360 Phoenix Wheelchair Suns 26
No. 28 Iowa Grizzlies 50, No. 29 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 41
No. 27 Fairfax Falcons 38, No. 30 Katie’s Komets 26
No. 26 Wichita Wildfire 46, No. 31 Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers 33
Quarterfinals
No. 17 Brooks Bullsharks 53, No. 24 WASA Marquette Eagles 25
No. 20 DASA Rolling Rams 66, No. 21 Synergy Junior Bulls 51
No. 22 ATX (Austin) 41, No. 19 Kansas City Kings B 34
No. 18 Utah Rush 51, No. 23 RHI Turnstone 45
Prep Division
First Round
No. 1 Kansas City Kings 38, No. 16 TIRR Memorial Hermann Hotwheels 6
No. 8 Fairfax Falcons 21, No. 9 ATX (Austin) 18
No. 4 LWSRA Junior Hawks 37, No. 13 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 14
No. 5 Bennett Blazers 26, No. 12 Cincinnati Dragons Prep 14
No. 6 New York Rolling Fury 36, No. 11 Lakeshore Sharks 17
No. 3 RHI Junior Racers 36, No. 14 Courage Kenny Rolling Rowdies 24
No. 7 WASA Junior Marquette Eagles 36, No. 10 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks 15
No. 2 Roger C. Peace Rollin’ Tigers 32, No. 15 ParaSport Spokane 15
Consolation Bracket
No. 9 ATX (Austin) 30, No. 16 TIRR Memorial Hermann Hotwheels 20
No. 13 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple 30, No. 12 Cincinnati Dragons Prep 28
No. 11 Lakeshore Sharks 26, No. 14 Courage Kenny Rolling Rowdies 16
No. 10 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks 17, No. 15 ParaSport Spokane 9
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Kansas City Kings 38, No. 8 Fairfax Falcons 18
No. 4 LWSRA Hawks 34, No. 1 Kansas City Kings 31
No. 3 RHI Junior Racers 32, No. 6 New York Rolling Fury 12
No. 2 Roger C. Peace Rollin’ Tigers 35, No. 3 RHI Junior Racers 22