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, June 17, 2015

Philly Summer League: Halves Become Quarters On Opening Night

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

HATBORO, Pa. --
A peek at the future of women’s collegiate hoops was available Tuesday night as the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Summer Women’s Basketball League got under way once again as in the past several years at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in lower Bucks County.

No, the look ahead was not at an incoming star from high school at any of the various area Division I, II, or III programs.

Rather it is the adjustment the way the game will be played moving forward after the rules committee a week ago voted to implement quarters of 10-minute increments instead of 20-minute halves and also made some more adjustments, which will be mentioned once the Guru learns what is being put to immediate use.

Longtime commissioner David Kessler after holding off the Guru’s original suggestion on draft night that the league might want to implement what could be done now to give the players a taste of what’s ahead this fall then reversed himself off a gentle nudge from Division II Philadelphia University coach Tom Shirley, who is on the committee headed by Richmond coach Michael Shafer.

Shirley is just a spectator looking at his team in the league, though all Division II and III teams are allowed to play summer ball together and their coaches are allowed on the scene per NCAA regulations.

Although there will be strategical shifts, many of those won’t be available for viewing until the winter considering most of the 13 teams in the league are self-coached.

Besides the future there was a look back to dedicating the season to the memory of Tom Freedman, who passed away Oct. 25 after a long illness and was a supporter of the league.

There’s also the joy of knowing one of the stars of last summer, recently graduated Saint Joseph’s standout Natasha Cloud, was taken 15th overall in the WNBA draft by the Washington Mystics and the rookie is off to a good start right now as his her team.

Tuesday’s Action

Most of the games were a bit lop-sided with Maroon, also known for the most part as Division II West Chester, winning a bit close 59-54 over Kelly Green.

Sapphire, primarily composed of Division II East Stroudsburg, had the first of the byes and will see its first action Thursday when the squad meets Orange.

The night’s top performance came from Ashley Wood of defending champion Gold with 25 points and among the six openers she was the only one to make the Guru’s running 20 points or better category that will appear in each post below along with certain other details.

Wood is the daughter of Keith Wood, who coaches the squad and is a 2014 graduate of Division II Kutztown

Gold defeated Orange 69-43 and another top Gold performer was Lauren Crisler, who will be a junior this winter at American U. in the nation’s capital. She scored 10 points.

Orange, which is coached by Renegades director Steve Flynn, got 15 points from Mackenzie Carroll, an incoming freshman at Colgate, and 10 from Lindsey Kelly, an incoming senior at Nazareth College.

Points are the only stats kept in the league, due to staffing costs.

The commissioner on the rosters also lists high school alma mater though the Guru will be more detailed next time listing backgrounds when he has hard copy or a second screen for referencing the information.

In the Maroon win over Kelly Green, recent West Chester grad Dallas Ely got 18 points, and Tiffany Johnson, an incoming senior with the Golden Rams got 11 points.

Jenna Swope, a recent Division III Gettysburg graduate, scored 14 for Kelly Green, while Christine Verrell, a recent Dowling graduate, and Emily DeAngelis, an incoming Wilkes sophomore, each scored 10 points.

Black, also known as Division II Philadelphia U., had an easy time posting a 73-42 win over Red, as Tori Arnao scored 15 points and incoming Rams sophomores Rachel Day and Erin Maher each scored nine points.

Saint Joseph’s incoming senior Ciara Andrews scored 14 points for Red and Margaret Melhem, an incoming Division III Moravian freshman, scored 12.

Elsewhere, Pink, dominated on the roster with Division III Scranton players, beat Neon Green, 64-52, as Alyssa Monaghan, an incoming Saint Joseph’s freshman, scored 14 points and connected on a trio of 3-pointers, while Hawks incoming senior Sarah Fairbanks scored 13.

Neon Green, coached by league veteran Ted Hagedorn, whose daughter Elle, is a former Harvard star, got 19 points from Villanova’s Megan Quinn, who was red-shirted last winter, while her Wildcats teammate Alex Louin, one of the bright newcomers last winter in the Big 5, scored 10 points.

Purple, composed of Division II USciences, gained a 61-48 triumph over Forest Green, which is composed primarily of Division II Holy Family, which is a key local rivalry in the winter for both schools that compete in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

Hadiyah Tucker of the Devils scored 10 points while Laura Trisch, a sophomore, and Colleen Walsh, also a sophomore, each scored nine points.

Kiernan McCloskey, a junior at Division I Lehigh, scored 16 points for Forest Green, and Pallavi Juneja, a recent grad of Division III Haverford, scored seven points.

In the remaining game, Ash, composed primarily of Millersville players, gained a 61-41 win over Royal Blue, which is dominated by players from Penn State-Abington.

Celeste Robinson, an incoming Millersville senior, had 18 points for Ash, while Tyisha White, also an incoming senior at the same school, scored nine.

RoyaL Blue’s Tyniqua Henderson, an incoming senior at the PSU branch campus, scored 16 points, and Jiana Clark, an incoming sophomore, scored 11.

Looking Ahead

This area of the Philly Summer League report will get more meaningful the deeper into the action we get the next couple of weeks but for now it is worth noting that the commissioner arranged unwittingly that of the six Thursday doubleheader match-ups, the teams in each set are either1-0 or 0-1 except of course the obvious prestated start of Sapphire, which will be its first after having a bye on Thursday.

Standings

Team W-L G.B. PF PA


Maroon 1-0 -- 59 54
Gold 1-0 -- 69 43
Black 1-0 -- 73 42
Pink 1-0 -- 64 52
Purple 1-0 -- 61 47
Ash 1-0 -- 61 41
Sapphire 0-0 0.5 00 00
Kelly 0-1 1.0 54 59
Orange 0-1 1.0 43 69
Red 0-1 1.0 42 73
Neon Green 0-1 1.0 52 64
Forest Green 0-1 1.0 43 61
Royal Blue 0-1 1.0 41 61
Results
Tues, June 16
Maroon 59, Kelly Green 54
Gold 69, Orange 43
Black 73, Red 42
Pink 64, Neon Green 52
Purple 61, Forest Green 47
Ash 61, Royal Blue 41

Looking Ahead
Thurs., June 18
7 p.m.
Forest (0-1) vs. Ash (1-0), Court 1
Red (0-1) vs. Pink (1-0), Court 2
Sapphire (0-0) vs. Orange (0-1), Court 3

8:15 p.m.
Royal Blue (0-1) vs. Gold (1-0), Court 1
Kelly Green (0-1) vs. Purple (1-0), Court 2
Neon Green (0-1) vs. Maroon (1-0), Court 3

Bye: Black (1-0)

Scoring 20 Points or More

Ashley Wood, Gold (W) vs Orange (L), 25 – June 16

Tie-Break Tracker
True Order Coming in a Few Weeks

Maroon (1-0) vs. KG (W)
Pink (1-0) vs. NG (W)
Gold (1-0) vs. O (W)
Purple (1-0) vs. FG (W)
Black (1-0) vs. Red (W)
Ash (1-0) vs. RB (W)
Kelly Green (0-1) vs. M (L)
Neon Green (0-1) vs. Pink (L)
Orange (0-1) vs. Gold (L)
Forest Green (0-1) vs. Purp (L)
Red (0-1) vs. Blk (L)
Royal Blue (0-1) vs. Ash (L)

Don’t Forget to Like League on Facebook Page (Link to Come)

- Posted using BlogPress from the Guru's iPad

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