We Came. We Saw. We Conquered. It took the BasketCases more than two hours to cover the 40-some miles from downtown D.C. to North Baltimore during rush hour this evening. When we finally arrived at Loyola (late), it was clear that we weren't the only members of Turtle Nation who had braved the traffic to see the Terps return to action after an 11-day layoff and to witness the long-awaited Maryland debut of Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood. The bleachers at the Reitz Arena were packed (standing room only) with hundreds and hundreds of fans wearing Terrapin red.

Sa'de's first appearance as a Terp was, quite frankly, what Maryland fans had expected. She fitted seamlessly into the Terps' rotation and fast-paced offense, pushing the ball up the court (see above!) and looking for -- and typically finding (8 assists!) -- an open teammate. Auspiciously, although they weren't Sa'de's first points of the night (or as a Terp), she did hit the basket that sent Maryland into triple digits in a blowout that ended 110-55.

Crystal Langhorne was perfect tonight (9 of 9 from the field), but it was Marissa Coleman who led all scorers with 21. Laura Harper dominated the boards with 12 rebounds, on the way to another double-double (11 points). And in addition to her 8 assists, Sa'de scored 7 points of her own. Starting point guard Kristi Toliver "only" had 6 assists, but she did put up 11 points. Meanwhile, Shay Doron was picking the Greyhounds' pockets, coming up with 5 steals to go along with her 13 points. Loyola Coach Joe Logan was suitably impressed:

"In my opinion, they're the best offensive team that I've ever seen. I was an assistant coach at St. Joe's when we played Connecticut and I told [the Greyhounds] that offensively this is the best team that I've ever seen in women's basketball, and there are some pretty good teams out there."

Prior to tonight, Coach Brenda Frese liked to refer to her team as having seven starters. They now have eight. Welcome Sa'de.

Photo Credit: DC BasketCases

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Friday Morning Update: Couldn't Face the Traffic? The Washington Post, true to form, didn't bother to send its own reporter to the game last night, relying instead on an AP story. In contrast, the Washington Times, a paper that most folks with triple digit IQs would never read for news but that has a surprisingly good sports section, not only had Ken Wright's pre-game story that we linked to on Thursday, but a post-game article today as well. And of course the Baltimore Sun's wonderful Milton Kent did not miss the game either.