A high school basketball team in Indiana held its first practice after a school bus accident sent every player to the hospital.
The bus carrying the Griffith High School's boys basketball team overturned on I-65 near DeMotte, at the 230.5 mile marker, after it was sideswiped by a driver who had spilled her drink, authorities said Sunday.
“My back is all messed up. I got cuts everywhere. My elbow hurts,” player Anthony Quintero said.
The team was headed to Lafayette to compete in the Class 3A semistate game against Marion High School. The game was postponed until Wednesday, according to the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
“You know the bus started spinning and spinning and spinning and next thing you know we started flipping,” player Martin Schiele said.
“I accepted death at that time. I thought I was dead, or about to die,” player Kelston Haden said.
The woman was driving southbound in the left lane "when the lid of her drink came off, spilling the contents on her," police said, adding that she tried to grab the cup and lost control of her car.
The bus was carrying six adults and 21 students, including the driver. All suffered non-life threatening injuries.
“Right now I’m just feeling a little sore. I’m getting better by the day,” player Isaiah Martinez said.
The team has received a lot of support since the tragedy. On Monday morning, the school held a prep rally for the players. Dennis Rodman also gave the team a shout-out on Twitter.
@JP8185 pic.twitter.com/qAe5hsZIc7
— Brandon Grubl (@b_grubl) March 19, 2016
“It means the world to us honestly, just having all those people behind us,” Quintero said.
“We’re not gonna make no excuse for everything. Everybody knows what happened but at the end of the day, we gotta just go out there and play and give it our all,” Schiele said.
A team doctor will decide on Wednesday who is healthy enough to play.
