Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Guru Musings: NBA DNA In Philly Summer League

By Mel Greenberg

During the end of a brief holiday break in the WNBA action, the Guru takes time to note some other activities that have been passed in his direction and perhaps at several others.

The Guru has yet to make it over to the Philadelphia Deot. of Recreation Womern's Summer League, which is actually being played in suburban Hatboro this season, rather than Northeast High -- yes, the Guru's alma mater.

Commissioner David Kessler, who apparently is having problems getting his word processing program in sync with e-mails, passed the following note along that St. Joseph's fans and others will find interesting.

Last week Katie Kuester, who will be a junior for the Hawks this season, scored 40 points and a league record nine three-pointers on Tuesday.

Kuester's parents were at the game and as the Guru noted in past coverage of St. Joseph's, she is the daughter of Detroit Pistons head coach John Kuester, a former Philadelohia 76ers assistant coach who also played in the NBA.

Past players who have performed in the league include South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, Boston U. coach Kelly Greenberg, and most recently, former Drexel senior Gabriela Marginean, who last season became the all-time career scorer for women at Philadelphia colleges, be them Division I, II, III, or NAIA.

The league plays Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning 7:15 p.m., with playoffs scheduled for the end of the month.

Many Pages From Linda "Hawkeye" Page

Those with long memories will remember Linda Page, who scored 100 points in a Public League high school game for Dobbins Tech, also Staley's alma mater, in 1981 against Mastbaum to break Wilt Chamberlain's record in Philadelphia, which was the 90 he set at Overbrook High.

She went on to play for the late Kay Yow at North Carolina State.

Page, the native of Yeadon in the suburbs whose nickname is "Hawkeye", recently reached out to the Guru through his facebook page and informed of a book she has written -- Love, Pain & Passion: The Heasrt of a Champion.

She has worked as a probaton officer asd well as social worker and information about her life and shooting clinics, as well as more about her book, can be found at her website http://lindapage100.com.

On Saturday, July 17, Page will host a book signing and dinner party at Cafe Harlem, 717 Church Lane in Yeadon.

Tickets are $45, the deadline is Saturday, and you can mail payment to her at Linda Psge, P.O. Box 5260 Yeadon, Pa., 19050l. Page will mail the official invitation upon receipt.

The phone number can be found at the website.

One guest will be former Temple All-American Marilyn Stephens, currently the coach of Cheyney.

Temple Sked and Recruits

Speaking of the Owls, the university recently listed its outside schedule and recruits for this season, which can be found at the Temple website.

The four newcomers are Satoria Bell, a 5-8 guard from Northeast High who is transferring from Labette Community College; true freshmen Ryia Newsome, a 5-8 guard, of West Roxbury, Mass., near the home of Temple coach Tonya Cardoza; and Nicolette Works, a 5-11 forward, of Syracuse. The trio will be able to play from the opening tip. The fourth player, Joelle Connelly, is a transfer from Hofstra and will be eligible in December. The 6-2 forward was rookie of the year in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2009.

As for the schedule, there is nothing new about Temple bulking up for Atlantic 10 play in the Owls' non-league slate but there is extra emphasis in that the school will be one of four host sites in March for NCAA regionals leading directly to the Women's Final Four in Indianapolis.

Duke will appear for the fourth straight season, with this year's game played at Cameron Indoor Arena on Dec. 30 in Durham, N.C. Temple opens at home Nov. 12 against Ohio State, which is headed by former St. Joseph's coach Jim Foster, a Temple graduate.

The Owls will visit Seton Hall, which will be under first-year coach Anne Donovan after she finishes her stint this summer with the WNBA New York Liberty.

The comes visits from Mid-American schools Buffalo, coached by former Temple coach LinDA Hill-McDonald, and Northern Illinois.

Temple will head West on Nov. 26 at Pepperdine and then on Nov. 28 at UCLA.
Rutgers continues the series visiting on Dec. 1. Also slated ate road visits to Auburn and Ohio U, and a visit from the Jen Rizzotti-coached Hartford team.

The Owls also visit Eastern Michigan and another Mid-American school Akron will visit on Jan. 2.

Temple's non-Atlantic 10 foes in the Big Five are at Villanova on Dec. 19 and at Penn on Jan. 22. The La Salle game, under new Explorers coach Jeff Williams, and two St. Joseph's games, one of which also gets designated for the City Series, will be determined when the A-10 sets its conference schedule.

-- Mel