Guru's Summer League Report: St. Joe's Stars Lead Kelly Green And Purple To Finals
(Guru’s note: The WNBA roundup is above this post.)
By Mel Greenberg
HATBORO, Pa. – It will be top-seeded Kelly Green and fourth-seeded Purple in the best-of-three finals of the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – near Willow Grove.
Both emerged with comfortable victories in Tuesday night’s semifinals though top-seeded Kelly Green broke open a tight contest with sixth-seeded Teal midway through the first half while Purple stopped second-seeded Gold from making a rally for the second straight playoff encounter.
The finals, which begin Thursday night at 7 p.m. on Court 1, have a potential intra-St. Joseph’s battle looming with Hawks playing on both squads. The second game is scheduled for next Tuesday, same time, same court, and, if necessary, a third game will be played next Thursday.
St. Joseph’s senior Katie Kuester scored 12 points to lead Kelly Green’s 57-43 win over Teal that avenged her team’s lone loss in finishing first with the No. 1 seed and a 9-1 record.
Kuester was the star of last summer’s champions. Villanova junior Meagan Pearson added 11 points to Kelly Green’s attack, while Lafayette senior Sarah McGorry scored nine points, incoming Leopards freshman Emily Homan scored eight, and Villanova junior Devon Kane also scored eight points.
Though Teal had two of the top scorers for the regular season, both were held below their averages. Lakia Stewart, a 2007 Kent State graduate had 16 points, but 2002 Drexel graduate Michelle Maslowski, who averaged 18.3 points – third best – scored just nine points and 2008 Temple graduate Ashley Morris, a former Central High star who averaged a league best 23 points scoring 161, was held to just seven points.
Purple took a lopsided lead over Gold but late in the game had to stop a rally and also had to go the final minutes without recent La Salle graduate Ashley Gale, who suffered an undetermined knee injury, before emerging with an 81-68 win.
Her status for Thursday was unknown late Tuesday night.
The Purple squad was without Launa Hochstetler, a 2009 Valparaiso graduate who left to play professionally in Holland.
Gale had scored 25 points before being injured and had finished with a fourth-best 18.0 average. St. Joseph’s junior Shelby Smith scored 22 points and Hawks sophomore Erin Shields, who averaged a second-best 20.1 points, scored 14, as did Cathy (nee Hebling) Peduzzi, a former star at Germantown Academy and American University, where she graduated in 1998.
Gold got 20 points from Lehigh junior Becky Guman, 17 from recent Princeton grad Addie Micir, 10 from Lehigh sophomore Hilary Weaver, and nine each from Princeton junior Megan Bowen of the two-time defending Ivy champions and Bethune-Cookman senior Jasmine Elum, who averaged a fifth-best 15.5 average.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
HATBORO, Pa. – It will be top-seeded Kelly Green and fourth-seeded Purple in the best-of-three finals of the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gymnasium – home of the AAU Renegades – near Willow Grove.
Both emerged with comfortable victories in Tuesday night’s semifinals though top-seeded Kelly Green broke open a tight contest with sixth-seeded Teal midway through the first half while Purple stopped second-seeded Gold from making a rally for the second straight playoff encounter.
The finals, which begin Thursday night at 7 p.m. on Court 1, have a potential intra-St. Joseph’s battle looming with Hawks playing on both squads. The second game is scheduled for next Tuesday, same time, same court, and, if necessary, a third game will be played next Thursday.
St. Joseph’s senior Katie Kuester scored 12 points to lead Kelly Green’s 57-43 win over Teal that avenged her team’s lone loss in finishing first with the No. 1 seed and a 9-1 record.
Kuester was the star of last summer’s champions. Villanova junior Meagan Pearson added 11 points to Kelly Green’s attack, while Lafayette senior Sarah McGorry scored nine points, incoming Leopards freshman Emily Homan scored eight, and Villanova junior Devon Kane also scored eight points.
Though Teal had two of the top scorers for the regular season, both were held below their averages. Lakia Stewart, a 2007 Kent State graduate had 16 points, but 2002 Drexel graduate Michelle Maslowski, who averaged 18.3 points – third best – scored just nine points and 2008 Temple graduate Ashley Morris, a former Central High star who averaged a league best 23 points scoring 161, was held to just seven points.
Purple took a lopsided lead over Gold but late in the game had to stop a rally and also had to go the final minutes without recent La Salle graduate Ashley Gale, who suffered an undetermined knee injury, before emerging with an 81-68 win.
Her status for Thursday was unknown late Tuesday night.
The Purple squad was without Launa Hochstetler, a 2009 Valparaiso graduate who left to play professionally in Holland.
Gale had scored 25 points before being injured and had finished with a fourth-best 18.0 average. St. Joseph’s junior Shelby Smith scored 22 points and Hawks sophomore Erin Shields, who averaged a second-best 20.1 points, scored 14, as did Cathy (nee Hebling) Peduzzi, a former star at Germantown Academy and American University, where she graduated in 1998.
Gold got 20 points from Lehigh junior Becky Guman, 17 from recent Princeton grad Addie Micir, 10 from Lehigh sophomore Hilary Weaver, and nine each from Princeton junior Megan Bowen of the two-time defending Ivy champions and Bethune-Cookman senior Jasmine Elum, who averaged a fifth-best 15.5 average.
-- Mel
posted by Mel Greenberg | 6:11 AM
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