Kailey Fenton
On February 7, around 9:00 p.m. in Darien, Connecticut, the Merrimack College Women’s Basketball team was on their way to a game against LIU Brooklyn, when the team experienced the unexpected: a crash.
The Women’s Basketball team was about three hours into their bus ride when the bus driver had a medical emergency causing the bus to veer off road. The bus crossed over three lanes on I-95, where it continued going off the road, hitting through a fence before coming to a complete stop. The bus door and windows shattered spreading glass all over the bus and surrounding area outside.
The entire team along with the three coaches were on the bus when the accident occurred. No injuries were reported. The coaches and teammates were all very shocked and nervous, and they were concerned about the driver’s health. Merrimack still played in the game the following day.
Junior Marissa Gattuso says she felt the bus get air and thought it was going to flip over.
“It was tough because we didn’t get much sleep and were still in a lot of shock, but in a way, it motivated us to want to play well,” Gattuso said. “Our mentality is ‘win always.’ We ended up winning 66-63. We had another game against Fairleigh Dickinson University two days later as part of the same trip and also won 84-66. Overall it was a successful weekend for us, even under these horrible circumstances.”
The bus driver underwent surgery the night of the accident for a stuck kidney stone causing an infection and high fever, but he is recovering well.
Police gave the driver a verbal warning for failure to maintain his proper lane, and Merrimack College sent another bus for the team.
Although our Warriors were put in an unfortunate circumstance, the team was still motivated to get two valuable wins on the road.
