Guru's Summer League Report: Kelly Green Wins First, Gold Claims No. 2 Seed

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

By Mel Greenberg

HATBORO, Pa. – Kelly Green won its seventh straight and clinched first place outright while Gold clinched a playoff spot and the No. 2 seed Thursday night in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer League at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – in Harboro, Pa., near Willow Grove.

The Kelly Green (7-1) triumph, their seventh straight, was an 81-58 win over Cardinal Red (3-6) as Villanova junior Megan Pearson scored 24 points, hitting five 3-pointers; incoming Lafayette freshman Kelly Loughney scored 17 points, her future Leopards teammate senior Sarah McGorry scored 14 points, and Harvard junior Elle Hagedorn scored 12 points.

Cardinal Red (3-6), which fell to 10th place in the 11-team league, got 22 points from Holy Cross sophomore Alexis Smith and 13 from incoming Colgate freshman Stephanie Schultz. The team is most likely eliminated though some long-shot tie-break might occur, though it has only one win against teams in the four-way deadlock for sixth above Cardinal Red and that is over Black.

The regular season will end Tuesday night and the eight-team quarterfinals will be played next Thursday night as the playoffs get under way.

Semifinals will occur on Tuesday, August 2, followed by a best-of-three finals between the two survivors on Thursday, August 4, Tuesday, August 9, and, if necessary, Thursday, August 11th.

Lime Green (2-7), which is in 11th place and composed primarily of Division II Philadelphia University players, fell 64-37 to Royal Blue (4-5), composed primarily of Division II players Holy Family players from the rival Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and was eliminated.

Royal Blue (4-5) moved into a four-way tie for sixth with Black, White, which won its fourth straight, and Teal, which gained the benefit of a forfeit by Orange (5-5), which completed its regular schedule because of a bye next Tuesday night.

Orange is in fifth place a half-game behind Purple (5-4), which had the bye, and Columbia Blue (5-4) and a half-game in front of sixth place.

The forfeit was the third of the season, including one lost two weeks ago by Teal. Gold was the beneficiary of the other forfeit, which was committed by Columbia Blue.

Royal Blue in its win got the night’s top overall performance from Holy Family junior Erin Mann, who scored 26 points, while recent Tigers graduate Meghan Gibson scored 10 points.

Lime Green got 13 points from Philadelphia U. junior Kristen Blye and 11 from Christine Wooding, her Rams classmate.

Mathematically there could be a seven-way tie for third at 5-5 and one team will be eliminated based on the common records against each other among the group in the tie. Head-to-head results will determine seeds.

“I wish all the spots could be decided on the courts instead of on paper but the schedule and unavailable gym space precludes that,” said longtime commissioner David Kessler.

Gold (6-3), which is two games behind Kelly but a game ahead of third, got 21 points from Bethune-Cookman senior Jasmine Elum and 19 from Bloomsburg senior Courtney Nyce in its 70-45 win over Black, which got 12 points from Millersville junior Shira Newman and eight points from Shepherd senior Jenn Prine.

The win clinched the No. 2 seed because Gold has triumphs over both Columbia Blue and Purple if the three finishes tied for second next week.

If Columbia Blue and Purple tie for third and Gold takes second outright, Columbia Blue will earn the third seed off its win over Black.

The streaking White team stayed in the playoff hunt beating Columbia Blue 65-54 as USP junior Carolyn Edwards scored 11 points, while her Devils teammates junior Rebecca Ruggear scored nine and junior Sarah Hickman scored seven. Villanova redshirt junior Laura Sweeney added 10 points to the White attack and Wildcats junior Jesse Carey scored eight points.

Columbia Blue, composed entirely of Division II West Chester players, got 14 points from junior Carly Strickland, 13 from senior Shamyra Hammond, and 11 from junior Meghan Kerrigan.

The standings and seed positions, as of now, are as follows
Team W-L GB
*-Kelly Green 8-1 –
$-Gold 6-3 2
Columbia Blue 5-4 3
Purple 5-4 3
Orange 5-5 3.5
Black 4-5 4
White 4-5 4
Teal 4-5 4
Royal Blue 4-5 4
Cardinal Red 3-6 5
Lime Green 2-7 6

*-Clinched 1st
$-Clinched 2nd seed

In the group of the four teams tied for sixth Black is 2-1, White is 2-1 with a loss to Black, Teal is 1-2 and Royal Blue is 1-2 with a loss to Teal.

If the same four are deadlocked without any new teams in the mix after Tuesday, Royal Blue will lose out.

On Tuesday night White needing a win or a favorable tie-break meets Gold at 7 p..m. on Court 1 while at the same time on Court 2 Royal Blue needing a win or favorable tie break will meet Purple, which would clinch a playoff spot with a win.

Teal needs a win or favorable tie break as a result of its outcome with Lime on Court 1 in the 8:15 game and Black needs to upset Kelly or get a favorable tie-break after its game at the same time on Court 2.

In the singleton on Court 3 at 8:15 p.m. Columbia Blue needs a win over Cardinal Red to avoid being drawn into any elimination ties though it could back into the playoffs if teams below also lose.

-- Mel