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.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Guru's Summer League Report: Tight Playoff Hunt Resumes Tues. Night

(Guru's note: A WNBA report advancing Tuesday's two games is above this post.)

By Mel Greenberg

Kelly Green (4-1) meets Gold (4-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday night on Court 1 in a battle for at least second place as part of the five-game card in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – in Hatboro, Pa., near Willow Grove.

Gold’s Jasmine Elum, a senior next winter at Bethune-Cookman, has scored the second most total points to date in the league at 93, just four behind Lehigh sophomore Marisa Repasch of the first-place Orange (5-1) squad.

The Gold squad also has Addie Micir, a recent graduate of two-time defending Ivy champion Princeton who was among the top players in the Ancient Eight.

Lehigh junior Kelly Peterson, in terms of points, ironically leads Kelly Green. She has collected 69 to date and is tied for seventh with Division II Holy Family incoming junior Ana Cruz, a transfer from Harcum College on the Main Line who is on the Royal Blue squad.

Peterson is also tied for eighth with three other players for best individual performance in a game with 24 points.

As soon as the Guru can get into longtime commissioner David Kessler’s scorebooks on a WNBA/Summer League off day he will try to provide more enhanced scoring information. But be aware points are all that are being kept this summer.

Kelly Green also has St. Joseph’s junior Katie Kuester and Villanova junior Megan Pearson on the roster.

Orange, which sits atop the 11-team league, meets No. 11 Lime Green (1-5) at 8:15 in the single game played on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Court 3.

Besides Lehigh’s Repasch as the top point producer to date in the league, Villanova redshirt freshman Emily Leer is fourth in total points with 84.

Though Orange is a strong favorite over Lime Green, which is composed predominately of Division II Philadelphia University players such as sophomore Stephanie Agger, senior Taylor Peltzer, and junior Christine Wooding, a win is not necessarily a given.

With 2.5 weeks remaining in the regular season, Line Green trails Cardinal Red (2-3) and Teal (2-3), tied for seventh, by only 1.5 games for the last available spot for the playoffs, so enough motivation exists to pull an upset.

Cardinal Red at 7 p.m. on Court 2 will meet White (1-4), which broke into the win column last time out and is only a game behind Tuesday night’s opponent in the battle for playoff positions.

Lafayette junior Alicia Manning is Cardinal Red’s top point producer and tied with Gold’s Addie Micir for 13th in the league with 51 points.

Villanova junior Jesse Carey on White is 10th in total points with 61 on a squad dominated on the roster by players from Division II University of the Sciences.

Two other games will be played at 8:15 p.m. on Courts 1 and 2 while Royal Blue (3-3) is in sixth place and is the bye team for Tuesday night. That team is dominated with Division II Holy Family players.

In the nightcap affair on Court 1, Black (3-2) and Columbia Blue (3-2) will be seeking to break a tie for fourth place though the winner could move up in the standings depending on the outcome on Court 1 in the earlier game between Gold and Kelly Green.

Lehigh senior Emily Gratch is Black’s leading point producer with 55 for 12th place.

Columbia Blue is composed entirely of Division II West Chester players. Senior Allison Hostetter is ninth on the summer point total with 68, and her one-night performance of 22 points is part of a 12th place tie on individual efforts with Royal Blue’s Cruz, Orange’s Repasch, and St. Joseph’s sophomore Erin Shields on the Purple team.

Ninth place Purple (2-4) meets seventh-place Teal (2-4) in the 8:15 p.m. game on Court 2 seeking to create a logjam for the last playoff spots as of the moment and pending the outcome of the other games involving teams in the lower part of the standings.

Purple’s Ashley Gale, a recent La Salle University graduate who missed the last game due to a conflict, has the top individual performance of the summer to date with 34 points, just three ahead of former Temple star Ashley Morris, a 2008 graduate of the Owls who is on a White squad loaded with former Temple players.

Purple’s Shields, incidentally, is fifth in total points with 74, just one ahead of Teal’s Michelle Maslowski, who is a 2002 graduate of the Dragons and one of the all-time scoring sensations in school history.

The Guru returns with Tuesday’s results in 24 hours.

-- Mel