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 10, 2013

Philly Summer League: Team White Tops Gold To Stay Unbeaten in First Place

(Guru note: Take a gander what this same coverage looks like as an exxperiment over at the Guru's http://philahoopsw.com site.)

By Mel Greenberg

HATBORO, Pa. --
Team White started the three-night marathon of games this week with a lopsided 67-51 win over Gold Tuesday to remain the sole unbeaten group in the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Women's Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in Willow Grove Industrial Commons.

Gold (4-2) was coming into the game off of last Tuesday's upset, in terms of the standings at the time, that knocked Hunter Green from the unbeaten column.

Action resumed following last Thursday's break for the July 4th holiday creating the need for a Wednesday slate this week to make up the date and enable everything to finish on time in early August before players start taking off to return to school.

It's a big week for White (5-0) because next up is Hunter Green (5-1), which is a half-game behind, so a win Wednesday in the 7 p.m. game on Court 1 could put the frontrunners in a strong spot to get thee top seed of the eight playoff slots in the 13-team league.

Two of the visitors watching the White-Gold game and some of his former players was Mount Saint Joseph's coach John Miller, who also coached La Salle, and his daughter Katie.

Purple (4-1) made a big move into sole possession of third place a game behind White with a 66-57 win over Sky Blue (4-2) and after meeting Kelly Green (3-3) at 8:15 p.m. on Court 2 Wednesday, next up on Thursday will be a tilt against Hunter Green at 8:15 p.m., also on Court 2.

With just five nights left after this week in the regular-season the playoff picture in the tight race could begin to sort itself out or get even tighter.

Competition way down below is still close enough that Royal Blue (1-4) and Red (1-4), tied for 11th, could make the postseason and even winless Orange (0-5) still has a shot though the going the rest of this week will be rugged with a game Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Sky Blue (4-2) on Court 3 and then against Gold at 7 p.m. Thursday on Court 2.

Gold and Sky Blue are tied for fourth a game ahead of Kelly Green.

Meanwhile after the special milestone category of 20 points or more in any one game by an individual saw a leap to seven players hitting the honor a week ago Tuesday before the holiday break, it got quiet again with only West Chester's Brittany Sicinski making the list with 20 points in Sky Blue's 66-57 upset loss to Purple. She has hit the milestone three straight times.

In the White win over Gold, Catherine Carr, a 2011 graduate of Division II power Holy Family in Northeast Philadelphia, scored 16 points; Jasmine Elum, a 2012 graduate of Bethune-Cookman, scored 12, while recent Kutztown graduate Ashley Wood, the daughter of Team White coach Keith Wood, scored nine points.

Gold, which is coached by Ted Hagedorn, who had guided league winners with other teams the previous two summers, got 16 points from Saint Joseph's junior Natasha Cloud, 11 from Hawks sophomore Sarah Fairbanks, and eight from recent Division III Swarthmore graduate Madeline Ross.

All class designations of active collegians refer to their status when they return to school this fall.

"White is really quick. We also got hurt defensively by (Villanova junior) Emily Leer," Hagedorn said. Wildcats sophomore Caroline Coyer is also on the team.

Hunter Green, meanwhile, bounced back from its loss to Gold with a 65-57 win over Black (2-4), which is dominated by players from Division II Philadelphia University.

Erin Shields, a senior at Saint Joseph's, sccored scored 17 points, incoming Hawks freshman Kathleen Fitzpatrick scored 11, and Erin's sister Shannon, a sophomore at the University of San Diego, scored 10.

Team Black got 11 points from Rams sophomore Monica Schacker at Phlly U., 10 from recent graduate Megan Finn, and 10 from junior Victoria Arnao.

It's a big week for the Philly U. group, who were officially listed Monday as a preseason opponent on Nov. 6 against defending NCAA Division I champion Connecticut at a site and time to be determined.

"We're really excited about it, we got the email yesterday," Finn said.

"The contract calls for either site to be used," Phila. U. coach and athletic director Tom Shirley said earlier in the day on Tuesday.

UConn plays its campus games at the 10,000-seat Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and the othr games in the larger 15,000-seat XL Center, some 35-40 minutes away in Hartford, where Holy Family played UConn in a preseason tilt last year.

"(UConn Hall of Fame coach) Geno (Auriemma) and I are contemporaries," Shirley said. "He went to Kenrick, I went to Plymouth-Whitemarsh (in the early 70s) and we've kept in touch crossing paths over the years," Shirley said.

"When I saw him at the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame dinner last year I joked about him scheduling Holy Family and not the home boy," Shirley said.

"He said he didn't usually have a lot to do with the scheduling but he said he would try to make it work and then we got a call from their senior women's administrator telling us we got the date. The kids have known for sometime and everyone's excited for the opportunity."

Meanwhile, in Purple's big win over Sky Blue, which is the West Chester group, Liz Sharlow, a sophomore at Lehigh, scored 16 points, a total matched by teammate Jessica Porter, a sophomore at Division III Gettysburg, while Alyssa Isler, a senior at Gettysburg, and Kiernan McCloskey, an incoming freshman at Lehigh, each scored nine.

Besides's another big night from Sky Blue's Sicinski, Golden Rams teammate Kendall Benovy, a junior, scored 17 points and hit four three-pointers.

The other three games are in the recaps down below.

Looking Ahead

Continuing with the back-to-back-to-back slate this week to make up for last Thursday's lost night due to the Fourth of July, as mentioned,White has little rest and time to celebrate its win over Gold with Hunter Green on the horizon Wednesday night on Court 1 at 7 p.m.

Next comes Purple at 8:15 p.m. on Court 2 Thursday but if White completes the sweep it will be in solid shape as the number one team in the standings and also the only unbeaten team.

On the other hand, Hunter Green can reclaim first place Wednesday night by beating Team White.

Avoiding the three-game maration are the teams falling into the nightly bye with Navy Blue having been off Tuesday, Black off Wednesday, and Sky Blue off Thursday.

After this week, five nights of regular-season competition will remain thru July 30th to determine the eight playoff teams and seeding position.

Wednesday, July 10

7 p.m.Hunter Green (5-1) vs. White (5-0), Court 1
Heather Grey (2-4) vs. Red (1-4), Court 2
Sky Blue (4-2) vs. Orange (0-5), Court 3

8:15 p.m. Gold v(4-2) vs. Royal Blue (1-4), Court 1
Kelly Green (3-3) vs. Purple (4-1), Court 2
Maroon (3-3) vs. Navy Blue (2-3), Court 3
Bye: Black

Thursday, July 11

7 p.m. Maroon vs. Kelly Green, Court 1
Orange vs. Gold, Court 2
Red vs. Black, Court 3

8:15 p.m.Navy vs. Heather Grey, Court 1
Hunter Green vs. Purple, Court 2
White vs. Royal Blue, Court 3
Bye: Sky Blue

Tuesday Overall Recaps With More Detail

Maroon 50, Orange 39: The winners (3-3), prdominantly Division II University of the Sciences of Philadelphia (USP) moved into a 6th place tie with Kelly Green by keeping Orange (0-5) out of the win column as Kaitlyn Schmid, a junior with the Devils, scored nine points, recent Holy Cross graduate Kaitlin Cole scored eight, and six-year USP major Brianne Traub, who graduates in 2017, also scored eight points.

Orange got 12 points from Devin Gold of Division II Caldwell College and seven from Madison Tamburini, an incoming freshman at Division II East Stroudsburg.

Heather Grey 73, Royal Blue 46: Lehigh sophomore Kerry Kinek scored 17 points as the winners (2-4) snapped a four-game losing streak and stayed closer in the race for a playoff spot. Kayla Burton, an incoming Lehigh freshman, had 15 points courtesy of her five 3-pointers, while Division III Haverford junior Pallavi Juneja scored 13 points.

Penn junior Kara Bonenberger scored 13 points for Royal Blue (1-4) while Division III Washington College senior Katie Bay scored nine points.
Early in the game Royal Blue's Gabi Whitmer, a native of Pittsburgh and a senior at Division III Emory University in Atlanta, went down with an undetermined leg injury.

She was seen walking later but the extent of the effects won't be known until sometime Wednesday.

Kelly Green 58, Team Red 51: The winners (3-3), with a strong Division II Holy Family presence, moved into a sixth-place tie with Maroon as Brittany Wood, a junior at Division III Delaware Valley, scored 14 points, Erin Fenningham, a sophomore at Holy Family, scored 11, and Carolyn Heston, a Tigers senior, scored 10 points.

Red (1-4), composed primarily of Division III Scranton, got nine points from Allison Sweeney, a senior with the Royals, while future college teammate Faith DeVlieger, an incoming freshman, scored seven points, as did Noelle Alicea, a sopnhomore at Scranton.

Quick Notes

The Guru might be off the grid the next two nights due to a routine medical procedure scheduled for Thursday morning but he is pleased to announce that Kathleen Radebaugh, a former Saint Joseph's student sports reporter who was one of the original Guru blogettes in the middle of the last decade and now teaches in the Phildelphia Public School System, asked to return to active duty and will be writing some features off the league the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the injury last week to Purple's Aubrey Howland was a dislocated finger, which has sidelined her the rest of the summer per doctors orders, though she was on hand to watch her team play Tuesday.

Howland is a graduate of Archbishop Wood, who is currently an incoming junior at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.

For those who might have missed this item in the last report, instant cut-and-paste enables you to know that Kelly Green's Calypso Carty, an incoming freshman at Division III Utica, in upstate New York, and Hunter Green's Lauren Rothfield, an incoming freshman at Division III Salisbury on Maryland's Eastern Shore near the Chesapeake Bay, both worked the clock and scorebook at the tables for the league last summer.

Explaining the Standings

This time around the standings are in their natural tiebreaking state for the moment in terms of seeding order if regular season play ended today, though not everybody has yet to play the same number of games because of the nightly byes.

Right now the first three teams stand alone through records while Gold would be the fourth seed over Sky Blue to break the tie off a head-to-head win.

Kelly Green in a tie with Maroon gets the sixth seed off a better win by beating Navy Blue, which had Tuesday off, but the two teams have yet to play head-to-head, which would take precedence if the two are deadlocked at the end of the regular season in a two-way situation.

Navy Blue on record stands alone in eighth.

Black in a tie with Heather Grey would get the ninth slot off a head-to-head win between the two teams.

Royal Blue and Red are tied for 11th and have yet to meet head to head but Royal gets the better slot off a win over Navy Blue, which has more value because of Navy Blue's position in the standings.

Orange, which is still winless, is 13th with Sky Blue ahead on the schedule Wednesday and Gold next on Thursday in trying to end the streak of losses.

The running grid is now in proper order to look at tiebreakers for seeding and making the eight-team field, though while the big gridlocks have been reduced to small knots, enough games are left to either create some headaches at the pre-playoff finish or everything may be resolved without much angst caused to the commissioner and the Guru, his standings consulting officer.

Also, continued special thanks to Tom Utescher for providing pictures that will enable this report to switch over to being housed in PhilahoopsW that is now in play as an experiment. Email what you think.

Standings

Team, Won-Loss, Pct., GB, Pts., Opp. Points
1-White, 5-0, 1.000, ---, 324, 226
2-Hunter Green, 5-1, .833, 0.5, 409, 371
3-Purple, 4-1, .800, 1.0, 294, 270
4-Gold, 4-2, .667, 1.5, 343, 320
4-Sky Blue, 4-2, .667, 1.5 , 399, 354
6-Kelly Green, 3-3, .500, 2.5 , 366, 376
6-Maroon, 3-3, 500, 2.5, 309, 327
8-Navy Blue, 2-3, .400, 3.0, 269, 298
9-Black, 2-4, .333, 3.5, 330, 352
9-Heather Grey, 2-4, .333, 3.5 , 341, 336
11-Royal Blue, 1-4, .200, 4.0, 258, 324
11-Red, 1-4, .200, 4.0, 282, 283
13-Orange, 0-5, .000, 5.0, 208,302

Running Grid

This becomes the tracking tie-breaker and seeding guide in a few weeks for the eight-team playoffs, which will begin after the regular season ends July 30.

1-White vs. Red (W), vs. Orange (W), vs. Maroon (W), vs. Kelly Green (W), vs. Gold (W)
2-Hunt. G. vs. Red (W), vs. Orange (W), Maroon (W), vs. Kelly G (W), vs. Gold (L), vs. Black (W)
3-Purple vs. Gold (L), vs. Black (W-OT), vs. R.B (W), vs. N.B. (W-OT), vs. Sky B. (W)
4-Gold vs. Purple (W), vs. N.B. (L), vs. Sky B. (W), vs. Heath. Grey (W), vs. Hunt G. (W), vs. White (L)
4-Sky B. vs. Maroon (W), vs. Kelly G (W), vs. Gold (L), vs. Black (W), vs. R.B. (W), vs. Purple (L)
6-Kelly G. vs. N.B. (W), vs. Sky B, (L), vs. Heath. Grey (W), vs. Hunt G. (L), vs. White (L), vs. Red (W)
6-Maroon vs. Sky B. (L), vs. Heath. Grey (W), vs. Hunt G. (L), vs. White (L), vs. Red (W), vs. Orange (W)
8-N.B. vs. Kelly G. (L), vs. Gold (W), vs. Black (W), vs. R.B. (L), vs. Purple (L-OT)
9-Black vs. R.B. (W), vs. Purple (L-OT), vs. N.B. (L), vs. Sky B (L), Heath. Grey (W), vs. Hunt. G (L)
9-Heath. Grey vs. Orange (W), vs. Maroon (L), vs. Kelly G. (L), vs. Gold (L), vs. Black (L), vs. R.B. (W)
11-R.B. vs. Black (L), vs. Purple (L), vs. N.B. (W), vs. Sky B. (L), vs. Heath. Grey (L)
11-Red vs. Hunt G. (L), vs. White (L), vs. Orange (W), vs. Maroon (L), vs. vs. Kelly Green (L)
13-Orange vs. Heath. Grey (L), vs. Hunt G. (L), vs. White (L), vs. Red (L), vs. Maroon (L)

Top Individual Peformances (20 or points)

27 Pts.: Kathryn Stockbower, Heather Grey (W) vs. Orange, June 18
26 Pts.: Brittany Sicinski, Sky Blue (W) vs. Black, June 27
25 Pts.: Brittany Sicinski, Sky Blue (W) vs. Royal Blue, July 2
25 Pts.: Erin Shields, Hunter Green (W) vs. Red, June 18
25 Pts.: Erin Shields, Hunter Green (W) vs. Orange, June 20
23 Pts.: Katie Kuester, Hunter Green (W) vs. Red, June 18
22 Pts.: Alyssa Bonenberger, Royal (L) vs. Purple, June 25
22 Pts.: Kelsey Watson, Royal (L) vs. Sky Blue, July 2
21 Pts.: Kendall Benovy, Sky Blue (W), vs. Black, July 2
21 Pts: Ashley Wood, White (W) vs. Kelly Green, July 2
21 Pts.: Erin Shields, Hunter Green (L) vs. Gold, July 2
21 Pts.: Ciara Andrews, Navy Blue (L-OT)., vs. Purple, July 2
20 Pts.: Ciara Andrews, Navy Blue (W) vs. Black, June 25
20 Pts.: Camille McPherson, Maroon (W) vs. Red, July 2
20 Pts.: Brittany Sicinski, Sky Blue (L) vs. Purple, July 9

Till next report

-- Mel
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home