TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the help of three students from The University of Alabama, the U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team won the gold medal in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

The U.S. Women’s Team remained undefeated in the 2008 Paralympic Games, downing Germany 50-38 to take the gold medal for the second Paralympic Games in a row.

Three members of the UA Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team -- Alana Nichols, Mary Allison Milford and Stephanie Wheeler -- participated on the winning U.S. team.

Nichols, a recent UA graduate with a master’s degree in kinesiology, is from Farmington, N.M. Milford, a senior majoring in public relations and Spanish, is from Magnolia, Ark. Wheeler, who serves as both the assistant coach and player on the UA team, is a doctoral student in adapted sport pedagogy from Norlina, N.C.

Wheeler was also a member of the U.S. team that took the gold medal at the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004. Nichols and Milford are also veterans of the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the Pan Am Games last summer in Brazil.

For more information about the U.S. team, go online to www.paralympics.teamusa.org.

For more information about the UA team, go to www.uads.ua.edu

The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is in the midst of a planned, steady enrollment growth with a goal of reaching 28,000 students by 2010. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state's economy, is in keeping with UA's vision to be the university of choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state's flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.