Guru's Philly Summer League: Kelly Green Seeks Top Playoff Seed

(Guru's note: The WNBA roundup post is above this one.)

By Mel Greenberg

Beginning Tuesday night only three regular season dates remain, including Thursday and next Tuesday, to determine the eight teams that will qualify for the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League playoffs whose quarterfinals begin Thursday, July 28, at the Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – in Hatboro, Pa., near Willow Grove.

It will be better to wait until the Tuesday results are in, though the Guru will be compiling from afar where he will be covering a WNBA game at the Mohegan Sun Arena between the Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty to determine which of the two goes into second or first place.

The other reason is the tightness of the race. Four teams – Columbia Blue, Teal, Royal Blue, and Black -are tied for sixth at 3-4 but only three could make the playoffs and ties will be broken by head-to-head competition. If the calendar would allow, veteran commissioner David Kessler would rather prefer the qualifiers be determined by play-in games.

As tight as it looks going into Tuesday night, things mathematically right now could be even tighter in the 11-team league that consists of 122 players representing 49 NCAA institutions.

If the White (2-5) team, which is dominated by Division II University of Sciences players and also has Villanova junior Jesse Carey and red-shirt junior Laura Sweeney, beats Royal Blue, dominated by Division II Holy Family players such as incoming junior Ana Cruz, junior Erin Mann, and sophomore Maggie Serratelli in the 7 p.m. game on Court 2

And if the Lime Green team (2-5), dominated by Division II Philadelphia University players such as sophomore Christine Wooding, sophomore Stephanie Agger, and senior Taylor Peltzer in the 8:15 p.m. game on Court 2

And if Columbia Blue (4-3), composed entirely of Division II West Chester players such as senior Allison Hostetter and freshman Steph Keys, beats Teal (3-4), primarily composed of former Temple players such as Ari Moore, a 2005 graduate. Ashley Morris, a 2008 graduate, and Stacey Smalls, a 2003 graduate, in the 8:15 p.m. game on Court 1

And if Purple (4-4), featuring recent La Salle graduate Ashley Gale, St. Joseph’s sophomore Erin Shields and Hawks junior Shelby Smith, beats Cardinal Red, which has Lafayette sophomore Alicia Manning and three Lehigh players: freshman Maryjo Horgan, senior Alexa Williams, and sophomore Lindsay Hoskins in the 8:15 singleton game on Court 3 then there will be a six-way tie for sixth at 3-5.

Meanwhile, the top of the standings are involved in the only other game,

First-place Kelly Green (6-1) meets second-place Orange (5-3) at 7 p.m. on Court 1 and a win by Kelly Green, which has St. Joseph’s senior Katie Kuester, Lehigh junior Kelly Peterson, and Villanova juniors Devon Kane and Megan Pearson, clinches a tie for first in the regular season besides locking up a playoff berth.

Orange has Villanova junior Rachel Roberts and Wildcats redshirt freshman Emily Leer among its players. Gold (5-3), which has a bye, is also in second place.

And actually a Kelly Green win not only gains a playoff berth but also clinches the No. 1 seed since Kelly Green would have head-to-head wins over Gold and Orange with two games remaining.

Here’s a quick look at the standings:

Kelly Green 6-1
Gold 5-3
Orange 5-3
Columbia Blue 4-3
Purple 4-4
Teal 3-4
Royal Blue 3-4
Cardinal Red 3-4
Black 3-4
Lime Green 2-5
White 2-5

And here are the high scorers to date in terms of total points.

Marisa Repasch (Lehigh soph.), Orange, 137 pts. 17.1 ppg.
Kelly Peterson (Lehigh jr.), Kelly Green, 119 pts., 17.0 ppg.
Ashley Gale (La Salle grad ’11), Purple 117 pts., 19.5 ppg.
Ashley Morris (Temple ’08), Teal 107 pts., 21,4 ppg.
Erin Shields (St. Joseph’s soph.), Purple 103 pts. 20.6 ppg.
Emily Leer (Villanova fresh.), Orange 101 pts. 14.4 ppg.
Ana Cruz (Holy Family jr.) Royal Blue 88 pts. 14.7 ppg.
Allison Hostetter (West Chester sr.) Columbia Blue 77 pts. 15.4 ppg.
Katie Kuester (St. Joseph’s sr.) Kelly Green 77 pts. 12.8 ppg.
Aly Byorick (Lehigh sr.) Orange 77 pts. 12.8 ppg.
Michelle Maslowski (Drexel ’02) Teal 76. 15.2 ppg.

Since not everyone played an equal number of games, here’s the list ranked by points per game.

Ashley Morris 21.4 ppg.
Erin Shields 20.6 ppg.
Ashley Gale 19.5 ppg.
Marisa Repasch 17.1 ppg.
Kelly Peterson 17.0 ppg.
Allison Hostetter 15.4 ppg.
Michelle Maslowski 15.2 ppg.
Ana Cruz 14.7 ppg.
Emily Leer 14.4 ppg.
Katie Kuester 12.8 ppg.
Aly Byorick 12.8 ppg.

See you at the next sunrise.

- Mel