“Once I touched it, I didn’t really want to let it go,” said Morgan Wood about her team’s new trophy. “I had it for a really long time. It stayed the night at my apartment for a night or two.”
Gordonsville native, Morgan Wood, gave that statement to local Texas media after helping lead her team, UT Arlington Lady Movin’ Mavs, to a National Championship victory.
It’s a remarkable feat when you consider this was only the second full season that UTA has fielded a women’s wheelchair basketball team. Wood is one of the charter members of this team’s program.
“More so than the talent is the character of the girls,” said Jason Nelms, Head Coach of the Lady Movin’ Mavs. “With the character, you can do great things.” But Nelms and his players admit none of them expected to be this great this soon. And now that they’ve tasted success, they’re hungry for more.
Morgan Wood began her wheelchair basketball career as a freshman in high school when she joined the Music City Thunder in Nashville. After playing four years for the Music City Thunder, Wood graduated from Gordonsville High School in 2012 and moved to Memphis to attend college at the University of Memphis. While living in Memphis, Wood joined a team in Jackson, TN called the Jackson Generals.
In the fall of 2013 is when Wood made her move to Texas. She was asked by the School Director to help her coach, Jason Nelms, form a women’s wheelchair basketball program at UT Arlington. In just under three years, Wood has helped her team recruit multiple players, which ultimately lead to their National Championship Victory on March 12, 2016.
Click HERE to view a video interview with Morgan after the National Championship win.
