Philly Summer League: Gold and White Claim Top Two Playoff Seeds But Nine Could Tie For Next Six Spots

By Mel Greenberg

HATBORO, Pa. -- After the smoke cleared following Thursday night's six battles in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women's NCAA Summer Basketball League a dense fog unlike anything ever seen descended over the playoff picture heading into Tuesday night's final competition on the regular season schedule.

Gold off its 84-52 win over Black and White off its 62-41 win over Pink that had been competitive clinched the the first and second seeds, respectively.

Red and winless Royal Blue had already been elimninated.

As for the other nine teams, the 97-81 upset of Navy Blue over Orange, and the the 51-41 upset of Purple over Maroon, which completed its season at .500 at 6-6 and gets the last nightly bye, set up possibilities as wild as that final night of the baseball season several years ago when in retrospect the Phillies would have been better served not going for a franchise season win record and taken a loss to avoid meeting St. Louis in the first round.

For now, and the Guru was able to keep the seeds up to date as things stand at the moment, there is a five-way tie for third with those teams holding 6-5 records, including Hunter Green, which served its bye Thursday night.

Then Maroon, off its loss, fell to 6-6 but stands alone at the eighth seed, which is the cut-off in the 13-team league.

Next comes a three-way for ninth with those teams at 5-6 and only one-game behind the group in the five-way tie.

On Tuesday night all but one of the six games have playoff imnplications in the three doubleheaders at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in Lower Bucks County.

The exception is the Gold (10-1)/Red (2-9) game because Gold owns the top spot -- at worst it would finish in a tie and take the top seed off a head-to-head win -- while Red has been eliminated.

Those of you playing the 7 p.m. games don't go anywhere afterwards because it may take a while to determine who moves on to next Thursday's quarterfinals and who moves on to finish their summer vacations and/or get ready to return to college.

On one had if four of the five teams at 6-5 win their games (Black is an underdog to Gold), all eight teams will be determined without anyone from below moving in, though a few ties within the group may occur and have to be broken for seeding.

But if Black (6-5), also known as the Division II Philadelphia University Contingent, loses to White (9-2), the Division II West Chester contingent; if Navy Blue (5-6) upsets Sky Blue (6-5), if Kelly Green (5-6), which beat Royal Blue (0-11) on a forfeit, were to top Orange (6-5), and if Pink (5-6) upsets Purple (6-5), and Royal Blue (0-11) decides to have one big night and beat Hunter Green (6-5), and Pink (5-6), also known as Division II University of the Sciences of Philadelphia, upsets Purple (6-5), there will be a nine-way tie for third with three teams needed to be eliminted through tie-breakers.

Even if Hunter Green wins its game since it is a heavy favorite over Royal Blue, who didn't have enough players Thursday night for the Kelly Green game, there could be an eight-way tie for fourth and three teams would still have to be eliminated before ties might be further broken to determine seeds.

In terms of tie-breaking, any two-ways will go by head-to-head, any three-way and beyond will go by best record within that group and if a second procedure is needed, then the best win moves onto the playoff field first and the procedure starts all over again until eight are determined.

The Guru may have to check with his collegiate conferences to see whether to take as many good records within groups on the first break, or take the best records for playoff entry, and then start all over again with teams left to fill remaining spots.

In a separate to Rob Knox's weekly WNBA notebook here that is posted by sunrise Tuesday, the Guru will have all the potentials in an advance post, though he may do that earlier since all his WNBA teams are on the road far away so he has a bunch of open days ahead.

Some tie-break scenarios will be mentioned below in Looking Ahead, though most of the look-ahead has been done here.

It just worked out that the schedule this summer produced by longtime Commissioner David Kessler and the way the teams played it out gave this great sense of parity.

Some might blame the departure/retirement of former Saint Joseph's star Katie Kuester, who is now an assistant coach at Loyola of Maryland, but whatever team she would be on would be dominate and the rest of the league might still be crunched in massive gridlock.

But for the moment, let's get to the normal business of the night without regard to looming scenarios.

Three players, including two in the same game, hit the special 20-or-more points plateau, with Chelsa Woods, an incoming Saint Joseph's freshman, having another return to the special mention category, as she had a personal season-high of 27 points, which was also the night's top performance, to lead Navy Blue to its upset of Orange.

Natasha Cloud, the Saint Joseph's senior out of Cardinal O'Hara, returned to Gold after missing the last game when the frontrunners fell to Pink, and scored 22 points in the win over Black as she continued to be one of the multi-20-plus performers on the season.

But Black's Najah Jacobs of Phiuladelphia University went one better with 23 in the setback.

Sewing the Seeds

The easy part was done on the overnight to reflect true standings as they exist right now.

As mentioned, Gold is alone in first and White is alone in second with both set to start the quarterfinals in those two positions.

In the five-way with Hunter Green, Black, Orange, Sky Blue, and Purple, it is determined that Hunter Green gets the third seed with its 3-1 record within the group.

Then Black, Orange, and Sky Blue are all 2-2, while Purple at 1-3 drops to seventh.

Black was 3-0 as part of the remaining four and within the original 2-2 group was 2-0 for the fourth seed, while Orange was 2-1 for the fifth seed, leaving 1-2 Sky Blue sixth, and Purple in the seventh slot.

Maroon at 6-6 right now is eighth all alone.

In the three-way for ninth, Kelly Green is 2-0 to get the ninth slot, while Navy Blue is 1-1, and Pink is 0-2, meaning it is possible the chip it holds with a best-win from below by beating Gold may not be able to get used as a trump.

Thursday's Recaps

Kelly Green 2, Royal Blue 0, forfeit -- Kelly Green, which has had adversity all-season, gets a forfeit win to counter some of the two forfeit losses early when the roster was short due to the delayed start uaing Division I players because of an NCAA ruling involving the certification process for the league.

But coach Ted Hagedorn's group has been tightrope walking since getting an enhanced roster. True, they would have been a heavy favorite over Royal, though the winless record belies some of the talent, but they also needed an overtime win against Navy Blue and also had a narrow win over Pink, and a three-point shot at the finish last time out to produce victories.

Purple 51, Maroon 41 -- Purple deprived Maroon of a playoff spot for the moment as Jsclyn Glantz, a Division III Scranton junior out of Haverford High, scored 11 points while Sarah Payonk, a Scranton sophomore out of Spring-Ford, scored 10 points.

Taylor Bryant, a former Penn student who was not a member of the Quakers varsity squad but is an Upper Dublin graduate, scored 17 points for Maroon, which, as mentioned finishes 6-6 and hopeful a mass tie-up doesn't occur with that record when the compeition is completed Tuesday night.

Danielle Derr, a Bloomsburg 2013 graduate, also out of Upper Dublin, added six points to the Maroon total.

Navy Blue 97, Orange 81 -- The winners stayed alive in the playoff race and deprived Orange of wrapping up a spot for the moment as Chelse Woods, as mentioned, had another big night, which ties her with Purple's Samantha Stipa, as fifth best for the season.

Woods has scored 20 or more points five times this season.
Sarah Fairbanks, a Saint Joseph's junior on the Hunter Green squad, had a season-best for the whole league earlier with 35 points, and has been a miltiple performer four times, while Cloud on Gold has hit the mark twice, as has Lauren Crisler on Gold snd Brianne Traub on Pink.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, a Saint Joseph's sophomore out of Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, added 18 points to the Navy Blue attack, while Devin Gold, a Caldwell College senior out of Council Rock North, scored 16 points.

Penn senior Kathleen Roche, who had been injured on the Quakers' run late in the season to the Ivy title, continues to do well on Orange, scoring 19 points Thursday paced by three 3-pointers and shooting 4-for-4 from the line.

Amanda Fioravanti, a Saint Joseph's sophomore, scored 15 points for Orange, while Natalya Lee, a Division II Kutztown junior out of Rancocas Valley in South Jersey, scored 13 points.

White 62, Pink 41 -- White pulled away from an early challenge to claim the No. 2 seed, though the West Chester bunch could still tie for first place in the regular season race if Red upsets Gold and White beats Black Tuesday night.

Kendall Benovy, a senior for the Golden Rams out of Hershey High, scored 14 points, while junior Brittany Sicinski, a Downingtown West graduate, and Victoria Smick, a sophomore, each scored 14 points for White.

Brianne Traub, a USP sophomore, had 17 points for Pink, while Jessica Sylvester, also a sophomore for the Devils, scored nine points with Pink.

Sky Blue 76, Red 38 -- Meghan Gallagher, a recent DeSales graduate from St. Basil, had 15 points, aided by 8-for-8 shooting from the line, while Avery Marz, an incoming Saint Joseph's freshman, and Jessica Pongonis, a Hawks sophomore, each scored 10 points to keep Sky Blue in the playoff hunt.

Red got 13 points from Tuga Goff, a Rosemont sophomore from Upper Dublin, and eight from Josephine Noonan, a Salisbury incoming freshman at the school on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Gold 84, Black 52 -- In wrapping up the top seed, besides Natasha Cloud's 22 points for Gold, Stephanie Leon, an incoming Delaware sophomore, scored 15 points, and Meghan Gibson, a 2011 Division II Holy Family graduate out of Archbishop Ryan, had 14 points.

The 23 points that Philadelphia University senior Najah Jacobs out of Central High had were highlighted on the Black squad by five three-pointers.

Mary Newell, a sophomore from Villa Joseph Marie, had 12 points in the Black attack.

Individual Scoring Performances
(20 or more points)

35 pts. -- Sarah Fairbanks, Hunt. Grn(W) vs. Orange, July 17
31 pts. -- Jasmine Elum, Gold (W) vs. Maroon, July 1
29 pts. -- Ciara Andrews, RB (L) vs. Orange, July 24
28 pts. -- Sarah Fairbanks,Hunt.Grn. (L) vs. S. Bl., July 24
27 pts. -- Samantha Stipa, Purple (W) vs. H.G., June 26
27 pts. -- Chelsea Woods, Navy Blue (W) vs. Orange, July 31
26 pts. -- Mariah Powell, White (W) vs. Red, July 17
26 pts. -- Courtney Brown, Maroon (W) vs. R. Blue, July 2
26 pts. -- Sarah Fairbanks, Hunt. Grn (l) vs. K.G., July 29
25 pts. -- Meghan Gibson, Gold (W) vs. Navy Blue, July 17
24 pts. -- Jasmine Elum, Gold (W) vs Hunter Green, June 24
24 pts. -- Erin Fenningham, Hunt. Green (W) vs. N.B., July 1
24 pts. -- Alexis Smith, Gold (W) vs. Maroon, July 1
24 pts. -- Brianne Traub, Pink (W) vs. Royal Blue, July 10
24 pts. -- Amanda Fioravanti, Orange (W) vs. R. B., July 23
23 pts. -- Lexi Scrivano, Kelly Green (L) vs. White, June 24
23 pts. -- Najah Jacobs, Black (L) vs. Gold, July 31
22 pts. -- Mariah Powell, White (W) vs. Kelly Green, June 24
22 pts. -- Alex Smith, Gold (W) vs. Orange, June 26
22 pts. -- Brianne Traub, Pink (L) vs. Sky Blue, July 1
22 pts. -- Chelsea Woods, Navy Bue (L) vs. White, July 24
22 pts. -- Chelsea Wood, Navy Blue (W) vs. R.B., July 29
22 pts. -= Natasha Cloud, Gold (W) vs. Black, July 31
21 pts. -- Alex Smith, Gold (W) vs. Hunter Green, June 24
21 pts. -- Jasmine Elum, Gold (W) vs. Orange, June 26
21 pts. -- Chelsea Woods,Nav Blu (L-OT),vs.Kelly Grn, July 8
21 pts. -- Amanda Fioravanti, Orange (L) vs. Maroon,July 10
21 pts. -- Natalie Stella, Pink (W) vs. Royal Blue, July 10
21 pts. -- Sarah Fairbanks, Hunt Grn (L) vs. White, July 14
21 pts. -- Ciara Andrews, Royal Blue (L) vs. Gold, July 14
21 pts. -- Kara Bonenberger, Orange (W) vs. R.B., July 24
20 pts. -- Brittany Sicinski, White (W), vs. R.B., June 26
20 pts. -- Lauren Crisler, Gold (W), vs. White, July 10
20 pts. -- Natasha Cloud, Gold (W), vs. Royal Blue, July 14
20 pts. -- Chelsea Woods, Navy Blue (W), vs. Black, July 22
20 pts. -- Lauren Crisler, Gold (L) vs. Pink, July 29
20 pts. -- Najah Jacobs, Black (W) vs. Sky Blue, July 29
20 pts. -- Alex Louin, Kelly Green (W) vs. H.G., July 29

Running Tracker for Playoff Seeds and Tiebreakers
Placements now reflect seeds (in front of team name) if the season ended today, which it doesn't

@1-Gold (10-1): H.G. (W), Orange (W), Maroon (W), Purple (W), White (W), R.B. (W), N.B.(W), S.B. (W). K.G. (W), Pink (L), vs. Black (W), vs. Red

&2-White (9-2): K.G.(W), R.B. (W), Purple (W), S.B.(W), Gold (L), H.G.(W), Red (W), Orange (L), N.B. (W). Maroon (W-F), vs. Pink (W), vs. Black

3-Hunter Green (6-5) Gold (L), Purp. (L), N.B. (W), Pink (W), Red (W), vs. Black (W), White (L), Orange (W), Maroon (W), S.B. (L), K.G. (L), Bye, vs. R.B.

4-Black (6-5): Pink (L), Red (L), Orange (W), K.G. (W-F), R.B. (W), H.G. (L), Purple (W), N.B.(L), Maroon (W), S.B.(W), vs. Gold (L), vs. White.

5-Orange (6-5): Gold (L), Black (L), Purple (W-F), Pink (W), Maroon (L), S.B. (W), H.G. (L), White (W), R.B. (W), Red (W), vs. N.B. (L), vs. K.G.

6-Sky Blue: (6-5) R.B.(W), Pink (L), White (L), Maroon(W), Purple (W), Orge (L), K.G. (W), Gold (L), H.G.(W), Black (L),, Red (W), N.B.

7-Purple (6-5): N.B.(W), H.G.(W), White (L), Orange (L-F), Gold (L), S.B. (L), K.G. (W), Black (L), R.B. (W), Red (W), Maroon (W), Pink

*8-Maroon (6-6): Red (W), K.G. (W-F), Gold (L), R.B. (W), S.B. (L), Orange (W), N.B. (W), Pink (W), H.G. (L), Black (L), White (L-F), Purple (L), Bye

9-Kelly Green (5-6): White (L), Maroon (L-F), Black (L-F), N.B. (W-OT), Red (W), Purple (L), S.B. (L), Pink (W), Gold (L), H.G. (W), R.B. (W-F), Orange

10-Navy Blue (5-6): Purple (L), Pink (W),H.G.(L), Red (W), K.G. (L-OT), Maroon (L), Gold (L), Black (W), R.B. (W), Orange (W), S.B.

11-Pink (5-6): Black (W), N.B. (L), S.B. (W), H.G. (L), Orng (L ), R.B. (W), Red (W-OT), Maroon (L), K.G. (L), Gold (W), White (L), Purple

12-Red (2-9) Maroon (L), Black (W), R.B.(W), N.B. (L), H.G. (L), KG (L), Pink (L-OT), Gold (L), Purple (L), Orange (L), S.B. (L), Gold

13-Royal Blue (0-11): S.B. (L), White (L), Red (L), Maroon (L), BLack (L), Pink (L), Gold (L), Purple (L), Orange (L), N.B. (L), K.G. (L-F), H.G.

@-Clinched top seed
&-Clinched second seed
*-Completed regular season

Standings (Thru Monday, August 4)

Team, W-L, Pct., G.B., Pts., Opp Pts.

@x-Gold, 10-1, .909, --, 832 652
&x-fw-White, 9-2, .818, 1.0, 716 530
Hunter Green, 6-5, .545, 4.0, 648 706
w-Black, 6-5, .545, 4.0, 520 527
Orange, 6-5, .545, 4.0, 645 646
Sky Blue, 6-5, .545, 4.0, 639 559
fl-Purple, 6-5, .545, 4.0, 570 523
fw, fl-Maroon, 6-6, .500, 4.5, 715 597
fw,fl(2)-Kelly Green, 5-6,.833, 5.0, 443 505
Navy Blue, 5-6, .833, 5.0, 709 696
Pink, 5-6, .833, 5.0, 560 544
Red, 2-9, .182, 8.0, 545 752
fl-Royal Blue, 0-11, .000, 10.0, 574 787

x -- Clinched playoff slot
@ -- Clinched top seed
& -- Clinched second seed
fw -- includes forfeit win, fl -- includes forfeit loss

Past Results

Thursday (July 31) Results

Kelly Green 2, Royal Blue 0, forfeit
Navy Blue 97, Orange 81
Purple 51, Maroon 46
Gold 84, Black 52
White 62, Pink 41
Sky Blue 76, Red 38
Bye: Hunter Green

Tuesday (July 29) Results

Pink 64, Gold 61
White 2, Maroon 0, Forfeit
Black 50, Sky Blue 55
Kelly Green 59, Hunter Green 57
Naby Blue 73, Royal Blue 58
Orange 80, Red 32

Bye: Purple

Thursday (July 24) Results

Gold 61, Kelly Green 48
White 60, Navy Blue 58
Black 52, Maroon 45
Sky Blue 66, Hunter Green 53
Orange 77, Royal Blue 74
Purple 59, Red 30

Bye: Pink

Tuesday (July 22) Results

Purple 72, Royal Blue 51
Orange 67, White (D2-West Chester) 58
Navy Blue 45, Black (D2-Phila. U.) 36
Hunter Green 68, Maroon 57
Gold 74, Sky Blue 63
Kelly Green 43, Pink (D2-USP) 37
Bye: Red

Thursday (July 17) Results

White (D2-West Chester) 102, Eed 62
Black (D2-Phila. U.) 56, Purple 39
Hunter Green 78. Orange 62
Gold 83, Navy Blue 62
Maroon 55, Pink (D2-USP) 36
Sky Blue 70, Kelly Green 55
Bye: Royal Blue

Tueaday (July 14) Results

White (D2-West Chester) 89, Hunter Green 37
Gold 79, Royal Blue 64
Pink (D2-USP) 64, Red 59, ovt.
Purple 62, Kelly Green 59
Orange 73, Sky Blue 72
Maroon 68, Navy Blue 61

Black (D2-Phila. U.), Bye

Thursday (July 10) Results

Maroon 53, Orange 47
Sky Blue 59, Purple 36
Kelly Green 59, Red 45
Gold 69, White(D2-West Chester) 47
Hunter Green 51, Black (D2-Phila. U) 43
Pink (D2-USP) 70, Royal Blue 50

Tuesday (July 8) Results

Black (D2-Phila. U.) 58, Royal Blue 56
Kelly Green 74, Navy Blue 70, ovt.
Orange 50, Pink (D2-USP) 49
Sky Blue 52, Maroon 47
Hunter Green 75, Red 60
Gold 77, Purple 57

Wednesday (July 2) Results

Hunter Green 51, Pink 47
Maroon 98, Royal Blue 48
White (D2-West Chester) 59, Sky Blue 48
Navy Blue 78, Red 52
Black 2, Kelly Green 0, forfeit
Orange 2, Purple 0, forfeit

Tuesday (July 1) Results

Hunter Green 69, Navy Blue 59
White (West Chester) 54, Purple 45
Gold 85, Maroon 68
Black (Phila. U.) 54, Orange 38
Pink (USP) 59, Sky Blue 56
Red 70, Royal Blue 57

Thursday (June 26) Results

Red 55, Black 54
White 84, Royal Blue 59
Gold 79, Orange 68
Purple 80, Hunter Green 50
Navy Blue 62, Pink 46
Maroon 2, Kelly Green 0 (forfeit)
Bye: Sky Blue

Tuesday (June 24) Results

Purple 69, Navy Blue 44
Maroon 48, Red 42
Sky Blue 93, Royal Blue 43
White (West Chester) 99, Kelly Green 44
Pink (USP) 59, Black (Phila. U.) 53
Gold 84, Hunter Green 59
Bye: Orange

Looking Ahead

Everything was addressed already except some hypothizes.

For the moment, the Guru will just address the nine-way tie and breaking it because he needs a clarifaction on the ensuing breaks.

Once determined, follow him on twitter @womhoopsguru and he will let you know when the scenarios are posted.

Among the nine teams, Black, and Hunter Green would all go into the field, first as a three-way tie for third at 5-3,and then a tiebreaker would have to be used among them to determine the third, fourth and fifth seed.

Now the Guru needs to resolve something as to whether to continue and take the next best records meaning a four-way tie at 4-4 would have to be broken to eliminate one team, or start all over with everyone left after the 5-3 teams are removed from the list.

As soon as the right procedure is determined the Guru will post an advance ahead of Tuesday.

If the remaining six from the original group were the new first tie-breaker, Maroon at 4-1 would become the sixth team.

Kelly Green and Navy Blue at 3-2 would become the seventh and eighth seed unless everyone left is used meaning the new overall survivors list would be five teams.

Upcoming Schedule

Tuesday, August 5

7 p.m.

Sky Blue (6-5) vs. Navy Blue (5-6), Court 1
Purple (6-5) vs. Pink (5-6), Court 2
Hunter Green (5-6) vs. Royal Blue (0-11), Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Orange (6-5) vs. Kelly Green (5-6), Court 1
Red (2-9) vs. Gold (10-1), Court 2
Black (6-5) vs. White (9-2), Court 3

Bye: Maroon

Regular Season Ends

Playoff Schedule

Quarterfinals

Thursday, August 7

7 p.m.
8th aeed vs. 1st seed, Court 1
6th seed vs. 3rd seed, Court 2

8:15 p.m.

7th seed vs. 2nd seed, Court 1
5rh seed vs. 4th seed, Court 2

Semifinals

Tuesday, Aug. 12

7 p.m.

Highest surviving seed vs. lowest surviving seed, Court 1

8:15 p.m.

Remaining quarterfinals survivors, Court 1

Championship

Thursday, Aug. 14

Semifinal survivors, Court 1

That's it for this report.

-- Mel


- Posted using BlogPress from the Guru's iPad