The student commons was not as full as it had been six months ago, when senior Jewell Loyd had made her verbal commitment to Notre Dame. But it was still pretty packed with students, staff, and girls basketball players alike, all wanting to watch Loyd sign her letter of intent with Notre Dame, where she will play basketball next year.

Loyd, sitting on one of the blue couches waiting for her parents, was almost at a loss for words when asked what she felt about signing her national letter of intent.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” she said, before adding, “it’s awesome. I’m at a loss for words.”

The entire event took all of 20 minutes. Loyd”s parents and her brother arrived at the commons a few minutes before the start of the festivities, and Loyd hugged all three of them, before leading them to the press conference table under the 3-d wolf head.

Athletic director David Rosengard started everything off by showing a short clip of Loyd from a TV program called “Sports Stars of Tomorrow,” which showcased all of the attributes that have made her a star–from her exemplary work ethic to her kind and extremely outgoing persona.

Then in a matter of a minute or two, Loyd signed both her national letter of intent and her scholarship letter. The entire event was narrated by head girls basketball coach Tony Konsewicz, who explained what Loyd was doing to the crowd, after intro-ing  the event by thanking Loyd for being able to share this moment with the entire basketball family. He went on to say that he was glad it was finally over, that there would be no more “Jewell is leaving Niles West rumors,” and he wouldn’t be getting anymore phone calls from college coaches, at which everyone laughed. And that the team could finally focus on basketball.

Loyd’s father ended the event by saying a few words on what everything meant. He said that he was glad that everything had turned out the way it did, and called everyone in the crowd part of his big happy family. And then, as a sweet end to a pretty sweet day for Loyd, the future Notre Dame player, sporting a “play like a champion today” shirt, got to cut into her (national-letter-of-intent-day) cake.