Savannah

Morgan State (2-3, 1-1 MEAC) vs. Savannah State (1-4, 1-1 MEAC) Time: 1 p.m. Where: Hughes Stadium Radio: 88.9 FM Series: Morgan 6-0 What's at stake: Morgan State hopes to rebound from a 24-3 loss at home to North Carolina A&T last weekend when it hosts Savannah State for homecoming Saturday. The Bears cruised past the Tigers 47-7 the last time the two met each other in 2007. Savannah State is coming off a 34-14 home loss to Howard last week.

Tucked behind a ruined grain elevator at a pier along an industrial stretch of Baltimore's waterfront lies a still-gleaming white vessel that was once one of the nation's proudest maritime achievements — the only nuclear cargo and passenger ship ever built in the United States. She's the N.S. Savannah, a floating time capsule from the mid-20th century that has made Baltimore her retirement home. For a few brief years during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations she was a nautical superstar, touring the world as an ambassador for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and playing host to royalty.

The ring tone that breaks out periodically from the missionary's cell phone says a lot: The theme from "Mission: Impossible." But this bubbly blond evangelical named Melissa is nothing if not determined, and her targets — two sisters sharing a home and a lifelong commitment to Catholicism — present an irresistible challenge. Such is the premise of Evan Smith's smart, snappy comedy, "The Savannah Disputation," receiving its area premiere in a finely nuanced production from the Olney Theatre Center.

"It is so easy to convert others," Oscar Wilde observed. "It is so difficult to convert oneself." Something of both attempts is at the heart of "The Savannah Disputation," the comedy by Evan Smith receiving its area premiere at the Olney Theatre this week. The play, which had a successful production in New York last year, grabs a subject many people shy away from discussing — religion — and runs with it, finding humor as the dogma flies. Anyone who has ever answered a knock at the door to find an eager evangelical will, perhaps with a shiver, recognize the plot's set-up: Mary and Margaret, two sisters living together in Savannah, Ga., and content with their Catholic faith, find their lives put off balance when a Pentecostal missionary named Melissa shows up at their house, hell-bent on saving their souls.

My wife and I live in Abingdon and visited Savannah, Ga., in June. On our way to the airport to return home, we stopped to visit Bonaventure Cemetery, made famous in John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The cemetery is bordered by the Wilmington River. As we walked away from the river and headed back to the cemetery entrance, I turned to look back. The majestic oak trees covered with hanging Spanish moss and the dappled shadows on the ground made an image that captured our impressions of Savannah and the South.

Army Spec. Robert John Nowlin Jr., a veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq and a former Pen Lucy resident, was killed Monday in a roadside accident near Savannah, Ga. He was 22. "We're not sure exactly what happened. He had some trouble with his car and then pulled off the highway. He got out of the car and was hit by another car," his father, Robert John Nowlin Sr., a well-known Pen Lucy neighborhood activist, said yesterday. "He was taken to Savannah Memorial Hospital, where he died." Specialist Nowlin, who was stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., at the time of his death, was born in Baltimore and raised in Pen Lucy.

The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered commercial vessel, will be docked at Canton Marine Terminals in Baltimore for at least the next year as crews scrub the ship of remaining radioactive materials. The sleek 596-foot cargo and passenger vessel arrived at Vane Brothers Co.'s berth Thursday, after the company won a $588,380 annual contract from the U.S. Maritime Administration to secure the vessel for up to three years. Constructed in the 1950s under President Dwight D.

COLLEGE PARK -- The locker room of the Maryland basketball team has taken on a different look in recent days, and so have the Terrapins. It played out in last night's 75-46 victory over Savannah State (7-12) at Comcast Center, just as it had in a 30-point win over Delaware on Friday. The two-game winning streak, the second since the Terps (8-6) started the season 3-0, followed a three-game losing streak. Maryland@Charlotte Saturday, noon, ESPNU, 1300 AM PLAY IT AGAIN Hayes connects Having missed 18 of 29 shots in his previous three games, Terps sophomore guard Eric Hayes finished 6-for-9 against Savannah State.

COLLEGE PARK -- Typical New Year's resolutions such as staying off the Haagen-Dazs or going regularly to the health club don't usually last too long, but how about playing inspired defense and taking better shots? Maryland coach Gary Williams, whose preaching on such fundamental subjects has often fallen on deaf ears this season, will find out whether his mantra is getting through when the Terps return to the Comcast Center court tonight. Savannah State@Maryland Tonight, 8, 1300 AM