Cancer struck Toya Releford. Terrisha Osborn's brother and Machell Roberts' father were killed in car crashes. An OSU plane went down with 10 men aboard, many of them friends of the Cowgirls. In mid-January, Stuber's father died when pneumonia caused his lungs to hemorrhage. He lived for her basketball.
Sports are many things.
They can entertain and challenge. Build character and corrupt the same. Teach and strengthen. And they can comfort. Basketball, even in a so-so season, has comforted these Cowgirls.