Baby girl from Ethiopia adds to WSU coach’s family

‘Perfect’ gift arrives after 35-hour journey

HEBRON, Ky. — As first moments go, nothing could beat this.

Mike Bradbury, the new Wright State women’s basketball coach, met his daughter for the first time Tuesday afternoon, April 27.

Just off a 35-hour, four-flight trip from Ethiopia to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — his 11-month-old adopted daughter, Sena Nicole, reached out for him.

Instantly, the nerves and anticipation that had plagued him — he was unsure how she’d react because the sounds, the language, the faces would all be so strange to her — melted away.

The little girl quickly nuzzled into his embrace and then, feeling comfortable, touched his cheeks and smiled, showing her tiny front teeth.

“She’s more beautiful than I ever imagined,” Bradbury’s wife, Christy, whispered. “She’s just perfect.”

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