She They Can Play

The ACC is the only conference in the nation with an official song: "She Can Play" by Damien Horne. The longer version of the video is decidedly short on Maryland highlights, but otherwise pretty cool.

Tonight in Chestnut Hill, Maryland Seniors Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver showed why they deserved more footage . . . and proved once again that they can play! In a hard-fought, exciting game against Boston College -- one that was close throughout, and one that could easily have gone the other way -- Marissa and KT were crucial to the Terps' 85-81 victory. Marissa, in fact, led all scorers with 23 points, to which she added 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block, and was perfect from the free throw line (10 for 10!). She can play!

Kristi, who played the entire first half, put up 19 points of her own, 15 of those coming from three-pointers. Showtime! In fact, at halftime Comcast spliced some first-half footage of Kristi into the "She Can Play" music video . . . definitely showtime! KT also added 7 assists and 3 steals to her point total. She can play!

Marissa and Kristi are big time players, and as we watched the game tonight, we were struck by how much we are going to miss seeing them next season. For now, we'll just enjoy watching them -- as Terps -- while we still can.

Which reminds us . . . don't forget to vote for Kristi in the WBCA poll that asks which player you'd want taking a buzzer beating shot to win a game.* This morning, when we first posted a link to this poll, KT was inexplicably in third place, with only about 11% of the votes. Oklahoma's Whitney Hand was far ahead, with more than 56%, while Epiphanny Prince of Rutgers was in second place, with about 26%. Right now, however, Kristi is in the lead, with more than 53% of the votes, while Hand has dropped back to under 30%. The BasketCases can only assume that our readers have come through for Kristi! Keep up the good work!! [*Tuesday update: voting has now closed, and Kristi is the winner by a landslide. Results here; scroll down. Congratulations to Kristi. There's no one else we'd want to take that buzzer beater!!]

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Mystics News . . . In what probably came as a big surprise to most Mystics fans (including us!), late this afternoon the Mystics announced that they have signed Chicago Sky free agent Chasity Melvin.

Yes, the former Mystics center is returning to Washington! Chas, as our readers no doubt will recall, was traded to the Sky early in the 2007 season in exchange for Monique Currie, a move that did not sit well with then-Head Coach Richie Adubato, who resigned shortly thereafter. Chas's return to the Mystics will provide some much-needed veteran experience at the center position (and it also means that BasketCase Eileen can dig her Melvin #44 jersey out of moth balls).

Welcome back, Chas!

Photo Credit: DC BasketCases