(WXMI) — The Mary Free Bed Junior Wheelchair basketball team won a national championship! The Junior Pacers season didn't get off to the best start, but the team was playing its best basketball when the tournament started.
"To me, it's a dream come true," Shuyler Whitney said.
"It's been so much fun. Like, I always count down the days for the first day of the season to start or nationals," Ginessa Aguirre said.
"And we went in, wanted to win, wanted to win it all, and that was a plan and we did," Whitney said.
"We won and it was like the best feeling ever," Aguirre said.
Lee Montgomery has been coaching for 36 years. The Hall of Famer has seen it all during his career.
"I can't explain it. It's a different group of kids that I deal with every year. To see the achievement and the happiness on their faces, like speechlessness. It's very rewarding to me to see that they can have that happy moment. They will have that memory for the rest of their life," Montgomery said.
Ginessa Aguirre had an outstanding tournament. After winning the national championship, she was named the tournament's most valuable player.
"Getting MVP, I would have never thought I would have gotten that. And to be chosen was just the best feeling ever," Aguirre said.
Shuyler Whitney was named to the All-Tournament team.
"Just all the adrenaline after the game as well with the photos. I didn't necessarily know what was going on. I mean I understood that we won, but I was just like we finally did it," Whitney said.
Ginessa is looking to play wheelchair basketball in college, while Shuyler will be the leader on next year's team. Coach Montgomery adds another ring to his collection and isn't slowing down anytime soon.
"Waiting on the holy man to call me up upstairs. We never know when that's going to happen, none of us do. But yes, for as long as I can move," Montgomery said.
Montgomery was adamant that his team went out and won that national championship – they deserve the credit, he said – and it's a memory they'll have forever.
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