Philly Summer League: Villanova Stars Highlight Neon Green's Explosive Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

An explosive 91-42 performance by Neon Green over Forest Green with Villanova junior Megan Quinn and Bryant senior Maureen Leahy posting season highs of 30 points each on night three of the young season highlighted Tuesday’s action in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in Hatboro, Pa.

Four of the six games were competitive with the outcomes decided by five points or less and when the action ended, a three-way tie existed atop the standings with defending champion Gold, Pink and Purple tied at 3-0 while Black, also known as Division II Philadelphia University, also unbeaten a half-game back at 2-0.

Individually, nine players hit the magic milestone of 20 or more points with Quinn and Leahy joined by 21 points from Neon Green teammate and Villanova sophomore Alex Louin scoring 21 points.

Saint Joseph’s sophomore Chelsea Woods had her second straight 28-point performance in Red’s narrow win over Royal Blue while teammates Natalye Lee, a Division II Kutztown senior, scoring 21, and Margaret Melham, a Moravian freshman, scoring 20 in Red’s first win of the season.

Lauren Crisler, an American U. junior, had another standout game, with 23 for Gold in the narrow win over Maroon, also known as the Division II West Chester team, which got 25 points from junior Tori Smick and 20 from senior Brittany Sicinski.

The action also occurred on a night in which former Saint Joseph’s, Cardinal O’Hara, and Gold star Natasha Cloud helped WNBA-Washington close out Los Angeles in a narrow win in the nation’s capital in which she hit two foul shots at the finish.

Incidentally, commissioner David Kessler sent the league’s condolences to former Holy Family star Mary Ellen McCollum and her family on the death of her sister Katie on June 19. She and her other sister Christine have each played in the league several years.

Here’s the re-cap of the six games sent from commissioner-central to the Guru, who was down at the WNBA game in Washington.

Gold 87, Maroon 84 -- Besides Crisler’s performance, Jasmine Elum, a 2012 graduate of Bethune Cookman, scored 19 points, while Danielle Derr, a 2012 graduate of Division II Bloomsburg, and Alex Smith, a 2014 Holy Cross graduate, each scored 13 points for Gold (3-0).

Maroon (1-2) dropped into a two-way tie for eighth, the final playoff standings qualifier at the end of the season, though not as dangerous this early, with Dallas Ely, a recent West Chester graduate, scoring all 15 of her points on five 3-pointers to join the work of Smick and Sicinski mentioned above.

Black 49, Orange 47 -- Orange (0-3) narrowly missed getting its first win of the season while Black (2-0) stayed perfect as Mary Newell, a Philadelphia U. senior, scored 14 points, and Jess Kaminski, scored 7 in the tightly-fought contest.

Lindsey Kelly, a Nazareth College senior, scored 12 for Orange, with Emma Dorshimer, a Gettysburg freshman out of Jenkintown High, and Courtney Webster, a LeMoyne sophomore out of Central Bucks East, each scoring eight points.

Lauren Rothfeld, a Salisbury junior out of Upper Dublin, played her first league game of the season for Orange, having just returned from Israel.

Neon Green 91, Forest Green 42 -- All of Neon Green’s top performances from Quinn, Leahy, and Louin, have already been mentioned, while Pallavi Juneja, a recent Division III Haverford graduate, got all 12 of her points off four 3-pointers for Forest Green (0-3), and Kylie Giedemann, a Holy Family sophomore, scored 11.

Most of the Forest Green roster is composed of Tigers players. Under NCAA rules, Division II and III teams can play intact in summer league action, while Division I limitations are held to two each except for incoming freshman who have yet to enroll and are exempted from the count.

Neon Green will serve its bye on Thursday night while Kelly Green was idle Tuesday.

Purple 59, Ash 31 -- The other lopsided game was turned in from Purple (3-0), which is also the Division II USciences squad, as Sarah Abbonzio, who graduates in 2020, scored 13 points, and Micah Morgan out of Caravel Academy, scored 11.

Ash (2-1), which suffered its first loss as the season hit week 2, got 10 points from Taylor Pritchett, from Sussex Central, and Aunjel Van Brakle, a Millersville senior, scored nine points.

Red 89, Royal Blue 84 -- In getting its first win of the season, Red (1-2) also got 19 points from Lauren Gold, a Shippensburg junior, in addition to the points already mentioned from Woods, Lee, and Melhem in the high-scoring and close contest.

Royal Blue (0-3), still looking for its first win along with three other teams, got 19 points from Tyniqua Henderson, a senior from Penn State-Abington, which dominates the roster. Brittany a sophomore, scored 16 points, while Maggie Locke, a Holy Cross freshman out of Spring-Ford, scored 16, and Elizabeth Jones, a PSU-Abington junior, scored 15.

All class designations in these reports refer to players statuses going into their fall enrollments.

Pink 54, Sapphire Blue 49 -- Pink (3-0), primarily composed of Division III Scranton, got 16 points from Julia Gantz, a senior, and 10 from Katherine Feehery, a junior out of Cardinal O’Hara.

Sapphire Blue (1-1), suffering its first loss, got 10 points from Rachel Falkowski, a junior from Division II East Stroudsburg, which dominates the roster. Noelle Powell, a freshman, scored scored nine, while Madison Tambrini, a junior out of Archbishop Wood, scored eight points.

Looking Ahead

Tie-breakers in the standings are still difficult to begin using the natural positions, so unless a head-to-head situation occurs, deadlock teams will be listed alphabetically.

On Thursday, no games have teams undefeated going against each other nor do they have any in which both sides are winless.

This year, the July 4th holiday does not impact the league schedule, so no adjustments, such as an extra makeup night, is necessary.

All that said, here are the Guru ongoing stats, such as they are, remembering only points are kept from games, though some other nuances will be mentioned, such as overall defense, as they occur.

Standings
Team W-L G.B. PF PA Pct.
(Thru Wed., June 24)
(Ties Listed Alphabetical For Now)

Gold 3-0 –- 226 184 1.000
Pink 3-0 –- 185 151 1.000
Purple 3-0 –- 184 118 1.000
Black 2-0 0.5 122 89 1.000
Ash 2-1 1.0 166 167 .667
Neon Green 2-1 1.0 212 166 .667
Sapphire 1-1 1.5 00 111 114 .500
Maroon 1-2 2.0 203 210 .333
Red 1-2 2.0 181 224 .333
Kelly 0-2 2.5 94 125 .000
Forest Green 0-3 3.0 156 226 .000
Orange 0-3 3.0 150 180 .000
Royal Blue 0-3 3.0 107 215 .000

Season Results

Tues., June 23
Black 49, Orange 47
Neon Green 91, Forest Green 42
Purple 59, Ash 31
Red 89, Royal Blue 84
Gold 87, Maroon 84
Pink 54, Sapphire Blue 49

Thurs, June 18
Gold 70, Royal Blue 57
Ash 74, Forest Green 67
Sapphire Blue 62, Orange 60
Neon Green 69, Maroon 60
Pink 67, Red 50
Purple 66, Kelly Green 40

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 25

7 p.m.

Orange (0-3) vs. Maroon (1-2), Court 1
Red (1-2) vs. Kelly Green (0-2), Court 2
Gold (3-0) vs. Ash (2-1), Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Sapphire Blue (1-1) vs. Purple (3-0), Court 1
Royal Blue (0-3) vs. Pink (3-0), Court 2
Forest Green (0-3) vs. Black (2-0), Court 3

Bye: Neon Green

Tues., June 30

7 p.m.

Gold vs. Kelly Green, Court 1
Maroon vs. Black, Court 2
Orange vs. Royal Blue, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Sapphire Blue vs. Forest Green, Court 1
Neon Green vs. Ash, Court 2
Purple vs. Red, Court 3

Bye: Pink

Thurs., July 2

715 p.m.

Pink vs. Forest Green, Court 1
Sapphire Blue vs. Ash, Court 2
Neon Green vs Red, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Kelly Green vs. Black, Court 1
Maroon vs. Royal Blue, Court 2
Orange vs. Purple, Court 3

Bye: Gold

Scoring 20 Points or More

30- Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W), vs. Forest Green (L) - June 23
30-Maureen Leahy, Neon Green (W), vs. Forest Green (L) –June 23

28- Chelsea Woods, Red (W), vs. vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 23
28-Chelsea Woods, Red (L), vs. Pink (W) – June 18

25-Tori Smick, Maroon (L) vs. Gold (W) – June 23
25-Ashley Wood, Gold (W) vs Orange (L) – June 16
25-Alex Louin, Neon Green (W) vs Maroon (L) – June 18

24-Sarah Fairbanks, Pink (W) vs Red (L) – June 18
24-Tyniqua Henderson, Royal Blue (L) vs. Gold (W) – June 18

23-Lauren Crisler, Gold (W), vs. Maroon (L) – June 23

22-Micah Morgan, Purple (W), vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 18

21-Natalya Lee, Red (w), vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 23
21-Alex Louin, Neon Green (W), vs. Forest Green (L) –June 23
21-Lauren Crisler, Gold (W), vs. Royal Blue – June 18

20-Margaret Melham, Red (W), vs. vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 23
20-Brittany Sicinski, Maroon (L) vs. Gold (W) – June 23

Tie-Break Tracker
True Order Coming in a Few Weeks

Gold (3-0) vs. O (W), RB (W), vs. M (W),
Pink (3-0) vs. NG (W, Red (W), SB (W),
Purple (3-0) vs. FG (W), KG (W), Ash (W),
Black (2-0) vs. Red (W), O (W),
Ash (2-1) vs. RB (W), FG (W), Purple (L)
Neon Green (2-1) vs. Pink(L), M(W), FG (W)
Sapphire Blue (1-1) O(W), Pink(L),
Maroon (1-2) vs. KG (W), NG (L), G(L)
Red (1-2) vs. Blk (L), Pink (L), RB(W),
Kelly Green (0-2) vs. M (L), Purp (L)
Forest Green (0-3) vs. Purp (L), Ash (L), NG(L),
Orange (0-3) vs. Gold (L), SB (L), B(L),

Royal Blue (0-3) vs. Ash (L, Gold (L), Red (L),

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