Woman’s Basketball Team Stranded in Snow for 26 Hours

A road trip for a women’s basketball team in New York turned into a nightmare when the team bus became stranded in the snow in Western New York on Monday. Ultimately, the storm stranded the team for 26 hours.

The Niagara Purple Eagles headed back to New York from Pittsburgh at 10 p.m. on Monday but became stranded some 30 miles from their destination with the snow that slammed into Western New York that left hundreds of motorists snowbound and at least eight people dead.

As the snow fell, though, coach Kendra Faustin told the Associated Press that they were muddling through well enough. “We have snacks, some granola bars and pretzels, We found six bottles of water and have been rationing it. We thought we’d be here for a couple hours and a couple of hours turned into 12 hours. It’s now 24 hours,” she said.

The 25 players and coaches–along with coach Faustin’s one-year-old son–filled their time with games and posting to social media as the snow swirled into 6-foot drifts and snarled the roads.

The girls weren’t rescued until 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com