Guru's Philly Summer League Report: Lime Green And Black Keep Pace

(Guru's note: There's no dateline because the Guru could not get back fast enough to Hatboro Tuesday night from the WNBA game in Washington between the host Mystics and Connecticut Sun, who will play against Wednesday night in Connecticut.

The Guru plans to be there. But as part of Guru-palooza on the Wednesday morning blog, this is one of four posts. Above this is the WNBA weekly outlook combined with the Washingt0n-Connecticut game, while below are local college notes involving Delaware and senior-to-be Elena Delle Donne as well as the hire of Army aide Jada Pierce as an assistant at Saint Joseph's. And below that is a summer look at the coaching appearances list involving Associated Press poll history reflecting the specific jo0b changes applicable to the poll. And now back to the Summer League.

By Mel Greenberg

Lime Green and Black stayed unbeaten as the regular schedule crossed the halfway point Tuesday night in the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Wokmen's Basketball Summer League at Kelly Bolish Gym in Hatboro, Pa., a suburb in lower Bucks County.

No matter what happens Thursday night the two leaders will collide head 0n Tuesday night either unbeaten and tied or tied at 6-1, or if only one wins the next game, meeting in a 1 vs. 2 challenge.

Both had relatively easy wins again. Lime Green (6-0), the defending champion, had the scoring spread around in a lopsided 67-31 triumph over winless Gold (0-6) as Alicia Manning, a senior at Lafayette, scored 12 points, Lehigh incoming sophomore Katelyn O'Reilly scored nine, while two other players scored eight points and three scored seven.

Jordan Strode, an incoming Saint Joseph's freshman, scored 10 points, and Alexandra Yantzi, a junior at Lehigh, scored seven points.

Black (6-0) continued its high-scoring attack in an 85-57 win that dropped Hunter Green (4-2) into third-place tie with Cardinal Red, two games behind the frontrunners.

Ashley Wood, a Kutztown senior and daughter of coach Keith Wood of Black, scored 15 points for the winners, while Villanova sophomore Emily Leer scored 12 points, Lehigh junior Hilary Weaver scored 11 points, and recent Bethune Cookman graduate Jasmine Elum scored 10 points.

Saint Joseph's junior Erin Shields dropped 16 points for Hunter Green, while former Swarthmore star Kathryn Stockbower, the all-time Division III leader in double doubles, scored 12 points.

As previously mentioned, Stockbower, whose eligibility expired after the 2011 season, recently returned from Germany where she was 0n a Fullbright Scholarship. She'll be entering Temple Medical School in the fall.

There was only one close game, though it was the closest outcome of the season, which will conclude at the end of this month prior to the playoffs.

Royal Blue, the group composed of Division II Holy Family, evened its record at 3-3, moving into a three-way tie for fifth with Purple and Ash Gray, who both lost while the Tigers players posted a 60-59 win over Columbia Blue (1-5), which is alone in 11th place, just ahead of Gold.

The previous narrowest outcome was a 69-66 win by Hunter Green over Kelly Green on June 26.

Ana Cruz, a senior at Holy Family, scored 15 points for Royal Blue, and Tigers senior Erin Mann scored nine points. Another player scored eight points, one had seven, two had five, and two scored four, according to longtime commissioner David B. Kessler, who provided the email report on the action to the Guru.

Kessler, who is retired from the Department of Recreation in the city, has been doing volunteer work making recordings for reading for the blind.

He can be reached by email with any questions at deucedbk@comcast.net.

Alex Wheatley, an incoming freshman for three-time defending Ivy League champion Princeton, was the only player Tuesday to top 20 points, scoring 22 for Columbia Blue. Lexi Scrivano, an incoming Millersville freshman, scored nine points, while Millersville senior Shira Newman scored 7 as did Bloomsburg senior Danielle Derr.

All class designations in these posts throughout the season refer to players' statuses when they return to school in the fall. Alums are mentioned as such.

Under NCAA rules concerning sanctioned summer leagues, only two teammates from the same Division I school can play together, except incoming freshmen can be added to the limit.

However, entire Division II and Division III teams can play together. There are four such squads in the local competition, and all are Division II outfits.

Two of Holy Family's winter rivals from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) play together -- University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP) is actually the Kelly Green squad, or vice versa depending on your viewpoint, while the Orange squad is really Philadelphia University.

Additionally, West Chester University of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division competes as the Vegas Gold team.

Admission is free to the league competition, which occurs Tuesday and Thursday nights through the end of the month before the top eight finishers will battle in the playoffs that include one-and-done formats in the quarterfinals and semifinals and a best-of-three duel in the championship series.

The gym is located in the Willow Grove Industrial Commons business park at the end of Turnpike Drive, which begins at Davisville Road, about a mile below the Davisville &Byberry Roads intersection and also not far from the Route 611 exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Doubleheaders on game nights occur on three courts with the openers tipping off at 7 p.m. and the nightcaps, barring overtime, getting under way at 8:15 p.m.

There is also a concession stand with reasonably priced items and the offerings include hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas, juices, bottled water, Italian water ice, potato chips and other foods.

Highlighting the other three games from Tuesday night, Cardinal Red (4-2) knotted Hunter Green (4-2) into a two-way tie for third behind the frontrunners, by beating Purple 81-57, dropping the opposition into a three-way tie for fifth at 3-3.

Kelly Loughney, a Lafayette junior, scored 18 points, former Temple star Ashley Morris, class of 2008, scored 15 points, while 2007 Kent State graduate Lakia Stewart scored 12, as did Lafayette sophomore Emily Homan.

Purple got 15 points from East Stroudsburg sophomore Ryan Fiascki, while Division III Haverford senior Calla Miller scored 12 points, and Ithaca College senior Devon Shea scored nine points.

Orange (2-4), the Division II Philadelphia University unit, got 17 points from sophomore Monica Shacker, including a sharpshooting array of four three-pointer in a 67-46 win over Ash Gray (3-3), which fell into a three-way tie for fifth place.

Victoria Arnao shot a nifty 6-for-6 from the line and the Rams sophomore scored 10 points.

Jessica Porter, an incoming freshman at Gettysburg, scored nine points for Ash Gray, while Da'Kiya Johnson, who is transferring from Santa Monica College in California to Division II Chestnut Hill, another CACC scnhool, scored 7 points, as did Delaware Valley College sophomore Brenna Coll, and and Lehigh junior Lindsay Alexander.

In the only other game of the night, which saw a battle of full Division II squads, the Vegas Gold (2-4) group of West Chester players , which moved into a tie for eighth with two other teams, pulled Kelly Green (2-4) into the deadlock beating the University of the Scences in Philadelphia bunch 66-55.

Golden Rams sophomore Kendall Benovy scored 15 points, while junior Paige Elliott scored 13 points as did sophomore Jennifer Roehm.

USP's Brianne Traub, targeted for a 2017 graduation under the Devils' work/study program, scored 19 points for Kelly Green, and Elsebeth Birman scored 12 points as 10 players participated.

In the previous post, based on information the Guru had, Elsebeth was mentioned as Elizabeth and listed as an incoming freshman, but she is a senior, according to USP all-purpose administrator Bob Heller, who added she led the CACC last year in free throw percentage shooting.

If you want to see all the rosters, there has been one small affiliation adjustment since then, in this blog site, go to last month's post and in early June you will see a Guru's guide to the league.

Looking Ahead
Here's the schedule for Thursday night, with records, and Tuesday night, which obviously won't have records until the next report covering Thursday's action.

On Thursday, July 12th, in the 7 p.m. games Cardinal Red (4-2) will meet Royal Blue (3-3) on Court 1, while Gold (0-6) will meet Orange (2-4) on Court 2, and Kelly Green (2-4) will meet Lime Green (6-0) on Court 3.

At 815 p.m., or later if a game in front goes into overtime or beyond, Hunter Green (4-2) will meet Purple (3-3) on Court 1; Columbia Blue (1-5) will meet Vegas Gold (2-4) on Court 2, and Black (6-0) will meet Ash Gray (3-3) on Court 3.

On Tuesday, July 17, the 7:15 p.m. matchups have Lime Green meeting Black on Court 1; Gold meeting Cardinal Red on Court 2; and Ash Gray meeting Hunter Green on Court 3.

The 815 p.m. triple set will offer Purple against Vegas Gold on Court 1; Kelly Green against Royal Blue on Court 2; and Orange against Columbia Blue on Court 3.

.STANDINGS (THRU WEDNESDAY, JULY 11)
TEAM W-L PCT. GB PF PA
Lime Green 6-0 1.000 --- 438 296
Black 6-0 1.000 --- 430 293
Hunter Grn 4-2 .667 2.0 403 416
Cardinal Red 4-2 .667 2.0 441 366
Royal Blue 3-3 .500 3.0 313 326
Purple 3-3 .500 3.0 367 393
Ash Gray 3-3 .500 3.0 326 338
Vegas Gold 2-4 .333 4.0 369 428
Kelly Green 2-4 .333 4.0 356 370
Orange 2-4 .333 4.0 336 355
Col. Blue 1-5 .167 5.0 364 400
Gold 0-6 .000 6.0 248 400

Breaking Ties
Here's how seeds would occur if the playoffs were determined right at this moment.

Eventually the competition may make things clearer than now but for the sake of some organization here's how the order within ties were set, especially since there's not a lot of head-to-head.

1st Place: Breaking tie of Lime Green vs. Black. -- Lime Green beating Hunter Green is a better quality win since there's no head-to-head yet.

3rd Place: Breakting tie of Cardinal Red vs. Hunter Green -- Hunter Green wins on head to head.

5th Place: Breaking tie of Purple vs. Ash Gray vs. Royal Blue. Once entire standings determined, within this group, Royal Blue goes first in head-to-head over Ash Gray, Purple has no head-to-head thus no negative loss within the group, and that is better than Ash Gray losing head to head to Royal Blue.

8th Place: Breaking tie of Vegas Gold vs. Orange vs. Kelly Green. Vegas Gold has a head-to-head wins over Orange and Kelly to go first. Then Kelly beating Purple better than Orange beating Ash Gray but not by much.

11th Place: Columbia Blue -- record. No tie to break.

12th Place: Gold -- record. No tie to break.

The grid several items down below gives you each team's win or loss along its schedule so you can see how the seed order was derived. It will be updated after each game night.

Top Individual Performers (20 or more pts)
(19 performances, 17 inividuals to date)

Thurs., June 28: Taylor Bryant, Columbia Blue, 29 pts., vs. Lime Green.
Tues., June 26: Katie Kuester, Lime Green, 26 pts., vs. Orange.
Thurs., June 28: Erin Shields, Hunter Green, 25 pts., vs. Cardinal Red.
Tues., June 19: Lakia Stewart, Card. Red, 23 pts. vs. Vegas Gold.
Tues., June 26: Marissa Repasch, Purple, 23 pts., vs. Kelly Green.
Tues., July 10: Alex Wheatley, Columbia Blue, 22 pts., vs. Royal Blue.
Thurs., June 21: Noelle Alicea, Gold, 21 pts. vs. Columbia Blue.
Tues., June 26: Emily Leer, Black, 21 pts., vs. Vegas Gold.
Thur., June 28: Ciara Andrews, Hunter Green, 21 pts., vs. Cardinal Red.
Thurs., July 5: Stephanie Keyes, Vegas Gold, 21 pts., vs. Ash Gray.
Tues., June 19: Kendall Benovy, Vegas Gold, 20 pts., vs. Cardinal Red.
Tues., June 19: Jessica Sylvester, Kelly Green, 20 pts., vs. Hunter Green.
Thurs., June 21: Tiffany Johnson, Vegas Gold, 20 pts., vs. Hunter Green.
Tues., June 26: Alex Wheatley, Columbia Blue, 20 pts., vs. Hunter Green.
Tues., June 26: Ashley Morris, Cardinal Red, 20 pts., vs. Ash Gray.
Thurs., June 28: Trish Watson, Purple, 20 points, vs. Gold.
Thurs., July 5: Alexandra Yantzi, Gold, 20 points, vs. Kelly.
Thurs., July 5: Trish Watson, Purple, 20 points, vs. Columbia Blue.
Thurs., July 5: Taylor Bryant, Columbia Blue, 20 points, vs. Purple.

Individual Highs and Lows
Highest total points top scorer on winning team: Katie Kuester, 26 pts. (Tues., June 26, Lime Green 87, Orange 58).
Lowest total points top scorer on winning team: Kerry Kinek, 10 pts. (Tues., June 19: Black 66, Columbia Blue 59).
Highest total points top scorer on losing team: Taylor Bryant, 29 pts. (Thurs., June 28: Lime Green 75, Columbia Blue 62).
Lowest total points top scorer on losing team: Lindsay Alexander, 6 pts. (Thurs., June 28: Royal Bue 52, Ash Gray 29).

Results To Date
Thurs., July 12
Cardinal Red vs. Royal Blue
Gold vs. Orange
Lime Green vs. Kelly Green
Hunter Green vs. Purple
Columbia Blue vs. Vegas Gold
Black vs. Ash Gray

Tuesday, July 10
Black 85, Hunter Green 57
Orange 67, Ash Gray 46
Royal Blue 60, Columbia Blue 59
Cardinal Red 81, Purple 57
Lime Green 67, Gold 31
Vegas Gold 66, Kelly Green 55

Thurs., July 5
Ash Gray 71, Vegas Gold 61
Black 80, Royal Blue 53
Purple 78, Columbia Blue 64
Cardinal Red 69, Orange 53
Kelly Green 60, Gold 52
Lime Green 62, Hunter Green 46

Tues., July 3
No Games Schedule

Thurs., June 28
Purple 82, Gold 47
Black 60, Kelly Green 44
Hunter Green 76, Cardinal Red 72
Lime Green 75, Columbia Blue 62
Royal Blue 52, Ash Gray 29
Vegas Gold 69, Orange 53

Tues., June 26
Hunter Green 74, Columbia Blue 63
Black 84, Vegas Gold 47
Cardinal Red 73, Ash Gray 47
Royal Blue 65, Gold 32
Lime Green 87, Orange 58
Kelly Green 85, Purple 59

Thurs., June 21
Ash Gray 64, Kelly Green 46
Lime Green 75, Cardinal Red 62
Black 55, Purple 33
Columbia Blue 57, Gold 47
Hunter Green 81, Vegas Gold 68
Orange 54, Royal Blue 46

Tues., June 19
Hunter Green 69, Kelly Green 66
Purple 58, Orange 51
Lime Green 72, Royal Blue 37
Cardinal Red 84, Vegas Gold 58
Black 66, Columbia Blue 59
Ash Gray 69, Gold 39

Teams Highs And Lows
Highest winning total points: Lime Green 87, Orange 58 -- 6/26
Lowest winning total points : Royal Blue 52, Ash Gray 29 -- 6/28
Highest losing total points: Hunter Green 81, Vegas Gold 68 -- 6/21
Lowest losing total points: Royal Blue 52, Ash Gray 29 -- 6/28
Highest differential (37 pts.): Black 84, Vegas Gold 47 -- 6/26
Lowest differential (3 pts.): Royal Blue 60, Columbia blue 59 -- 7/10

Grid Of Teams Against League

L.G. (6-0) vs. R.B. (W), C.R.(W), Orng (W), Col Blue (W), H.G. (W), Gd (W)
Blck (6-0) vs. C. Blue (W), Pur. (W), V. G. (W), K. G. (W), R.B. (W), HG (W)
H. Grn (4-2) vs. K.G. (W), V.G. (W), Col. Bl. (W), C. Red (W), LG. (L), Bk (L)
Cd Red (4-2) vs. V.G. (W), L.G. (L), A. G. (W), H. G (L). Oran (W), Purp (W)
Ry Bl (3-3) vs. L. G. (L), Orn. (L), Gold (W), Ash Gry (W), Black (L), CB (W)
Purp (3-3) vs. Org (W), Blk (L), K. Green (L), Gld (W), Col. Blue (W), CR (L)
Ash Gray (3-3) vs. Gld (W), K. G. (W), C.Red (L), Ry Bl (L), V.G. (W), Or (L)
VG (2-4) vs. C. Red (L), H. Green (L), Black (L), Orng (W), Ash G (L), KG (L)
K G (2-4) vs. H. G. (L), Ash Gry (L), Purp (W), Black (L), Gold (W), VG (L)
Orng (1-4) vs. Ppl (L), R. Bl (W), L. Grn (L), V. Gold (L), C. Red (L), AG (W)
Col B (1-5) vs. Black (L), Gold (W), H. Green (L), L. Grn (L), Pur (L), RB (L)
Gld (0-6) vs. A. G. (L), Col. Bl (L), Roy. Blue (L), Purple (L), K.G. (L), LG (L)

Schools Competing As Whole Units

Kelly Green -- University of Sciences in Philadelphia
Orange -- Philadelphia University
Royal Blue -- Holy Family
Vegas Gold -- West Chester

That's it.
-- Mel
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad