Guru's Summer League Report: Kelly Green Earns Top Seed; White Rallies

(Guru’s note: A little later following an all-night train ride to Washington from Conn Sun game. The WNBA post is now above this with the Washington-Atlanta Game from Wednesday and the Connecticut game from Tuesday with more to come later.).

By Mel Greenberg

Kelly Green (7-1) rolled to an easy 78-54 win over Orange (5-4) to clinch a tie for first and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs as part of the highlights of Tuesday night’s action in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer League at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – in Hatboro, Pa., near Willow Grove.

White (3-5), which was the last team to win a game this season, rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat Royal Blue 63-60 for its third straight and a four-way tie for seventh in the 11-team league.

Eight teams make the playoffs whose quarterfinals begin next Thursday though White, composed predominantly of players from Division II University of Sciences, would own the top tie-breaker and Teal the second in the seventh place group and make the postseason as of now.

Kelly Green has a two-game lead over Columbia Blue (5-3) and Gold (5-3), which was idle.

Columbia Blue, composed predominantly of Division II West Chester players, moved up to the runner up slot beating Teal 73-60 while Orange was taking a loss.

Kelly Green has already beaten both Columbia Blue and Gold and can do no worse than tie either with two nights of the regular season remaining on the schedule.

Two players from rival Patriot League schools and a pair of Villanova players led the Kelly Green attack as Lafayette freshman Kelly Loughney and Lehigh junior Kelly Peterson each scored 13 points. Junior Meagan Pearson of the Wildcats scored 12 points and her Villanova classmate Devon Kane scored 11.

Redshirt Villanova freshman Emily Leer scored 16 points for Orange and Lehigh sophomore Marisa Repasch scored 15 points.
Orange has one game left on the schedule and is in a two-way tie for fourth with Purple (5-4), which beat Cardinal Red 68-58 as St. Joseph’s sophomore Erin Shields had another hot shooting night with 23 points fueled by six three-pointers. Recent La Salle graduate Ashley Gale scored 15 for Purple.

Cardinal Red (3-5), which fell to the bottom of the four-way logjam for seventh, got 11 points each from Holy Cross junior Kaitlin Cole and Lafayette junior Alicia Manning, while player-coach Kisha Thompson, a 1998 graduate of Philadelphia University, scored eight points.

White, in its game with Royal Blue (3-5), composed primarily of Division II Holy Family players who are USP rivals in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, trailed by 16 points in the first half and was still behind 60-52 with out three minutes left in regulation but the White defense shut down the Royals the rest of the way and went on an 11-0 run.

USP junior Sarah Hickman’s shot put White ahead 61-60 and then Villanova sophomore Jesse Carey locked it away making three of four foul shots at the finish.

Carey scored 21 points while East Stroudsburg freshman Ryann Fiascki scored nine points. USP junior Rebecca Ruggear scored nine points and her Devils teammates Hickman and Brianne Traub, a projected 2017 graduate under USP’s academic system, each scored seven points.

Incoming Holy Family junior Ana Cruz, a transfer from Harcum College on the Main Line, scored 18 points for Royal Blue and Tigers junior Erin Mann scored 15 points.

West Chester junior Meghan Kerrigan scored 17 points for Columbia Blue in its win over Teal, composed primarily of former Temple players, and Golden Rams sophomore Alexandera Lennon scored 16 points.

Ashley Morris, a 2008 Temple grad, had the night’s top performance scoring 24 points for Teal (3-5), while Tynecia Pam, a 2004 graduate of the Owls, scored 13 points.

In the other game of the night Black (4-4) evened its record and took sole possession of sixth place with a 60-55 win in overtime over Lime Green (2-6), which is composed primarily of Division II Philadelphia University players.

Black’s Jenn Prine, a senior at Shepherd University, scored 15 points and Division III Haverford junior Calla Miller scored 12 points.

Philly U. junior Kristen Blye scored 21 points and her Rams sophomore teammate Samantha Morris scored 11.
On Thursday night Orange meets Teal at 7 p.m. on Court 1 while Royal Blue will meet Lime, which will try to keep its playoff hopes alive on Court 2.

Black meets Gold at 8:15 p.m. on Court 1, while Kelly Green will try to wrap up first outright when it meets Cardinal Red on Court 2 at 8:15 p.m.

The other game, the nightly singleton on Court 3 at 8:15 p.m., has Columbia Blue meeting White while Purple had the bye.

Here are the standings at the moment with seed position if the season ended right now.

Team Record G.B.
1. Kelly Green (7-1) --
2. Gold (5-3) – 2
3. Columbia (5-3) – 2
4. Purple (5-4) – 2.5
5. Orange (5-4) – 2.5
6. Black (4-4) – 3
7. White (3-5) – 4
8. Teal (3-5) – 4
9. Royal Blue (3-5) – 4
10. Cardinal Red (3-5) – 4
11. Lime Green (2-6) – 5

Gold is second off a head-to-head win over Columbia Blue.
Purple is fourth off a head-to-head win over Orange.
White is seventh off a 3-0 against the other teams in the seventh place tie.
Teal is eighth off a 2-1 record in the same group.
Royal Blue is 1-2 in the group for ninth.
Cardinal Red is 0-3.

The Guru will be back on the scene Thursday night.

-- Mel