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.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Guru's Summer League Report: Lime Green Upset of Orange Puts Kelly Green Into First

(Guru’s Note: Depending how early you are reading this AFTER sunrise, there is a WNBA roundup above this post. The Guru has to be in Newark, N.J. for a noon Liberty game so he reversed with sleep first then write then leave so he doesn’t miss the train.)

By Mel Greenberg

HATBORO, Pa
. – Kelly Green cruised over Gold 87-50 and climbed into first place by a half-game over Orange with dropped a notched when 11th place Lime Green rallied and pulled a narrow 67-63 upset win in overtime in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League Tuesday night at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – near Willow Grove.

Villanova senior Devon Kane had 16 points for Kelly Green (5-1), while Lehigh junior Kelly Peterson added 12 points and Mountain Hawks classmate Marybeth Egan scored 11.

Becky Guman, yet another Lehigh junior, had had 12 points for Gold (4-3) and Division II Chestnut Hill junior Lindsay Alexander scored 11.

Speaking of Chestnut Hill, the Griffins will have a new head coach running the sidelines this winter in Laura Pruitt, a former associate head coach at Division II Dowling College who was named on May 6 to guide the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference member.

It was a big night in the league for two other local CACC schools highlighted by the Lime Green (2-5) upset of Orange (5-2) and the 57-49 victory by White (2-4) over Cardinal Red (2-4).

Lime Green, mired in 11th place and composed entirely of Philadelphia University players, got 16 points each from sophomore Stephanie Agger and junior Christine Wooding, while junior Kristen Blye scored 11.

Orange, which was in first and had to finish the game in the final minutes of regulation and overtime with only four players because of a foul out off of what was a limited roster, got the night’s top performance in the league in 23 points from Lehigh sophomore Marisa Repasch while Aly Byorick, her senior Mountain Hawks teammate, scored 19 points.

Lime Green, which moved closer to the playoff mix for the postseason that begins the last week of this month, will have a bye Thursday night, which Royal Blue (3-3) had on the Tuesday card.

Four nights remain on the regular season Tuesday and Thursday schedule to determine the final standings.

Ironically, 24 hours ago in previewing Tuesday night’s action, your Guru did not discount Lime Green’s capability of an upset despite its standing at the bottom of the won-loss records.

Tuesday night’s crowd included former La Salle coach John Miller, who has been coaching the Mount St. Joseph’s girls at the high school level to titles at the league and state.

Meanwhile, White, dominated by Division II players from University of Sciences players from the CACC school, had been the last in the 11-team summer league to win, but now has two straight to move into a three-way tie for eighth with Cardinal Red and Teal (2-4) for what will be the final playoff spot.

Rebecca Ruggear, who will be a junior for the Devils this winter, had 12 points for White, Villanova redshirt junior Laura Sweeney scored 10 while her junior Wildcats classmate Jesse Carey had eight points as did USP’s Jessica Sylvester, who, under the school’s academic program, is projected as a 2017 graduate.

Chant’al Hardy, a 2010 Chestnut Hill graduate, and Lafayette junior Alicia Manning each scored 12 points for Cardinal Red and Division I Holy Cross junior Kaitlin Cole scored 10 points.

Teal, composed primarily of former Temple players, dropped into the eighth-place crowd when it suffered the summer’s first forfeit due to a shortage of players, enabling Purple (3-4) to gain the instant benefit and moved up into seventh place.

In the other game of the night on the five-game schedule Columbia Blue (4-2), composed entirely of Division II West Chester players, had an easy 75-42 win over Black (3-3) and moved up a spot over Gold to third place.

Sophomore Alexandra Lennon scored 16 points, and incoming freshman Kendall Benovy scored 11, the same total as seniors Allison Hostetter and Jen Owens.

Black, which fell into a fifth-place tie with idle Royal Blue, got 14 points from recent Division III Swarthmore graduate Kathryn Stockbower and 12 from Division III Haverford junior Calla Miller.

On Thursday night, Gold and Columbia Blue will battle for at least third place when they meet at 7 p.m. on Court 1, while Teal will try to move out of the eighth place deadlock when it meets Royal Blue on the same court at 8:15 p.m.

Over on Court 2 in the 7 p.m. contest Cardinal Red will also try to move out of eighth place when it meets Black while in the 8:15 p.m. contest Orange will try to stay near the top when it meets Black.

The singleton game of the night on Court 3 at 8:15 will feature Kelly Green trying to maintain first when it meets White.
Here’s a quick look at the standings and the Guru will again be on the scene Thursday night.

Team W-L Pct.

Kelly Green 5-1 .833
Orange 5-2 .714
Columbia Blue 4-2 .667
Gold 4-3 .571
Black 3-3 .500
Royal Blue 3-3 .500
Purple 3-4 .429
Teal 2-4 .333
Cardinal Red 2-4 .333
White 2-4 .333
Lime Green 2-5 .286

-- Mel

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