Being released from the hospital heading back to Gyor to see my teammates. This was awful and very tragic. No words honestly.
Sam MacKay, the star point guard of the University of Dayton’s women’s basketball team last year, was hurt in a deadly bus crash Saturday that killed the head coach and a manager of her Hungarian pro team. A teammate of hers had part of her left leg amputated.
According to wire reports, MacKay’s team — Uni Gyor — was headed to a preseason game at Sopron when a car drove into oncoming traffic. To avoid a head on collision, the team bus swerved, but was still hit by the car and then overturned.
Krystal Warren, UD’s assistant sports information director, talked to MacKay by phone and said the former Flyer cracked two vertebrae but “will be OK.”.
Early Sunday MacKay sent out this message via Twitter: “Being released from the hospital heading back to Gyor to see my teammates. This was awful and very tragic. No words honestly”.
Team manager Peter Tapodi was pronounced dead at the scene and Gyor head coach Fuzy Akos died at the hospital. Several players suffered injuries, some serious. Natasa Kovacevic, a 19-year-old Serbian forward, reportedly had her left leg amputated at the knee.
Wire reports said the driver of the car was arrested at the scene.
MacKay averaged 10.5 points and 4.7 assists a game as a senior. The Flyers made the NCAA Tournament each of her four seasons at UD.
In the spring she was a training camp signee of the Seattle Storm, making her the first Dayton player ever to sign a WNBA contract. She was cut in the preseason and then joined Uni Gyor in Hungary.
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