Women’s basketball team gives back despite having belongings stolen, media report
An unpleasant experience on the way back from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge in South Carolina did not stop the University of Maine women’s basketball team from giving back to the community on Thanksgiving, reported WLBZ (Channel 2), WABI (Channel 5) and the Bangor Daily News. On Wednesday, Nov. 23, hours before the team’s flight home, coaches and players went to a local mall to shop and eat. While the team was inside, their rented van was broken into and players’ and coaches’ computers, passports and licenses were stolen, according to the reports. The team managed to still make it home, and less than a day later, showed up at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter to serve Thanksgiving dinner to residents. “What could have been something that really put a damper on us for weeks, it was something our kids spun into something positive,” UMaine women’s basketball coach Richard Barron told WLBZ. “The loss of personal items, as unsettling as that may be, it was still a great lesson for us to come home and be grateful for everything that we do have.”