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.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Philly Summer League: Villanova Duo Power Neon Green While Purple Upsets Pink in Quarterfinals

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

HATBORO, Pa. --
A shot of revenge, a huge upset, and a gloomy pair of forfeits marked the opening round of playoffs with quarterfinal action Thursday night in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades.

In the games actually played third-seeded Neon Green (9-3) shook off Tuesday’s regular season-ending 66-65 loss to sixth-seeded Black (6-6), also known as Division II Philadelphia University by delivering a competitive 57-50 elimination while seventh-seeded Purple (6-6), also known Division II USciences, edged second-seeded Pink 57-56 after just missing an upset during the regular season when Purple suffered a low-scoring 34-31 defeat on July 9th.

But top-seeded Gold (11-1), the defending champion; and fifth-seeded Sapphire Blue (6-6) got virtual free passes to the semifinals through forfeits when Red didn’t field enough players, while fourth-seeded Maroon (8-4), also known as Division II West Chester, failed to appear for the second straight game because of running a camp on the Golden Rams’ campus.

Counting the two that occurred Thursday night, the league suffered nine forfeits on the 13-week 12-game per team schedule.

During the regular season, Gold also on a forfeit beat Red, which has the summer league’s top-scoring sensation in Saint Joseph’s sophomore Chelsea Woods, who did appear, as did her Hawks teammate Ciara Andrews out of Cheltenham.

Red (5-7) was idle Tuesday taking the last of the 13-byes, one-each, given to all the teams, so to play it safe, following the breaking of ties to determine the eight seeds, longtime commissioner David Kessler solicited Red players and got enough assurances to declare them the eighth seed on the basis of a head-to-head tie-break win over Forest Green (5-7), also known as Division II Holy Family.

Had Red called off their participation in advance, with Forest Green known to not have enough players for Thursday, the commissioner was set to offer the eighth slot to Orange (4-8), which won its last three and finished in a tie with Ash Grey (4-8), also known as Division II Millersville, by beating Ash Grey on Tuesday night.

“It’s a shame the ones that showed up all year didn’t get that shot,” said Orange coach Steve Flynn, who runs the Renagades and had an Orange squad of Division III players who were from for the most part high schools in lower Bucks County.

Of course, Red or Orange would have been long shots against Gold, whose only loss was to Neon Green.

West Chester beat Sapphire Blue 74-65 during the regular season to help hold the fourth seed over the squad composed of mostly Division II East Stroudsburg players.
Had the game been played it was probably a toss-up in terms of going in but because of the re-seed caused for the semifinals, third-seeded Neon Green, still quite formidable, would have been perhaps a better opportunity than playing Gold, which has lost just twice overall the last two summers.


In terms of the games that occurred, the Villanova duo of junior Megan Quinn (Episcopal Academy), whose birthday it was Thursday night, scored 26 points while Wildcats sophomore Alex Louin out of Mt. St. Joseph’s.

Alexandra Heck, a Philadelphia University senior out of Archbishop Wood, scored 14 points for Black while Erin Maher, a Rams sophomore out of North Penn, scored all nine of her points for Black with three 3-pointers.

In the Purple upset of Pink,whose only loss all season was to Gold to finish in a first-place but take the second seed off the head-to-head loss, Hadiyah Tucker, a Devils out of the Sanford school in Delaware for the Devils, put Purple ahead by two with six second remaining.

Alyssa Monaghan, an incoming Saoint Joseph’s freshman out of Bonner/Prendie, had a chance to force overtime from the foul line but made only one free throw with a second left in regulation.

Alex Thomas, a Devils freshman, had 19 points for Purple, while Sarah Abbonizio, a a 2020-targeted graduate for USciences out of Episcopal, had nine points, while Laura Trisch, a Devils sophomore out of Archbishop Wood, and Micah Morgan, also out of Caravel Academy, each scored eight points.

Saint Joseph’s senior Sarah Fairbanks out of Elizabethtown High near Harrisburg, had 29 points for Pink and Sarah Payonk, a Scranton junior out of Spring-Ford, scored 10 points.

To date there have been 52 times a player scored 20 or more points and seven with players scoring 30 or more.

Red's Chelsea Woods has had three 30-point plus games and eight overall of the 20-times 25 or more points have been scored. Megan Quinn has two 30-plus outings and six games scoring 25-or-more points.

In the semifinals on Tuesday night on Court 1, Gold will meet Purple on Court 1 rematching their first game since the close 65-60 score won by Gold, while at 8:15 on the same court Neon Green gets another chance for revenge meeting the Sapphire Blue squad that gained the 70-67 win in double overtime.

The championship will be at 7 p.m. next Thursday on Court 1.

As for the future resolving the difficulties arising from the upsets commissioner Kessler had multiple thoughts – “I’m fair so obviously on a certain nights a shortage may occur due to injuries or work or vacations planned before the league schedule is produce.

“But I think, minimally, we should have advance notice when camps may occur. I could if possible give a team a bye that week for that reason and also a late start in the 8:15 p.m. games. You also have to be fair to the players who do show up and want to work on their skills for their return to classes in the fall.”

Since many upsets occur in the back end of the season, it was suggested that maybe in June and early July play three nights a week to move up the end of the season before running into the problems involved once you get to late July or early August.

“The other thing is next year could be entirely different and there may not be many conflicts with the Tuesday and Thursday league nights,” Kessler added.

“The other issue to reach more parity you could craft the perfect roster but if players don’t show it is all meaningless.”

Kelly Green, for example, thought they had a great player in Saint Joseph’s Amanda Fiorvanti, who had some outstanding performances, but she did not play many nights due to summer school and other conflicts.

Had this been known ahead of time, Kelly Green would have gone in a different direction in the preseason draft that is conducted in late May.

Final Regular Season Standings

Team W-L G.B. PF PA Pct.


*-1-%%-Gold 11-1 -- 659 556 .917
*-1-%-Pink 11-1 -- 689 510 .917
*-3-%-Neon Green 9-3 2.0 760 650 .750
*-4-@-Maroon 8-4 3.0 732 .667 .
*-5-Sapphire Blue 6-6 5.0 681 678 .500
*-5--%-Black 6-6 5.0 570 584 .500
*-5-Purple 6-6 5.0 653 600 .500
*-8-%@-Red 5-7 6.0 674 657 .417
8--%@-Forest Green 5-7 6.0 610 689 .417
10-Orange 4-8 7.0 746 763 .333
10--&-Ash 4-8 7.0 526 575 .333
12-@-Kelly Green 3-9 8.0 674 755 .250
13-@-Royal Blue 0-12 11.0 537 793 .000

%%-Includes 2 forfeit 2-0 wins
%-includes 1 forfeit 2-0 win
&-includes 2 forfeit 0-2 losses
@-includes 1 forfeit 0-2 loss

*-Clinched playoff berth


Playoffs
(Seed No. in Front of Team
Regular Season Records in Parenthesis
^-Won Regular Season Meeting Between the Two)


b> Tues., Aug. 4

Semifinals


Court 1-both games

7 p.m.

7-Purple (6-6) vs.^ 1-Gold (11-1)

8:15 p.m.

5-^Sapphire Blue (6-6) vs. 3-Neon Green (9-3)

Thurs., Aug. 6

Championship


Court 1

7 p.m.

Neon Green or Sapphire Blue vs. Gold or Purple

Thurs., July 30

Quarterfinals Results

7 p.m.

1-Gold 2, 8-Red 0, forfeit
3-Neon Green 57, 6-Black 50
7-Purple 57, 2-Pink 56
5-Sapphire Blue 2, 4-Maroon 0, forfeit

8:15 p.m.

7-Purple (6-6) vs. ^2-Pink (11-1), Court 1
5-Sapphire Blue (6-6) vs.^ 4-Maroon (8-4), Court 2

Season Results

Tues., July 28
End of the Regular Season

Pink 2, Kelly Green 0, forfeit
Forest Green 2, Maroon 0, forfeit
Black 66, Neon Green 65
Orange 67, Ash Grey, 64, overtime
Gold 51, Sapphire Blue 39
Purple 50, Royal Blue 30
Bye: Red

Thurs., July 23

Neon Green 55, Gold 48
Pink 97, Maroon 57
Orange 83, Forest Green 61
Sapphire Blue 62, Kelly Green 58
Black 43, Purple 34
Red 69, Ash 38
Bye: Royal Blue

Tues., July 21

Gold 56, Pink 47
Neon Green 68, Royal Blue 53
Sapphire Blue 49, Black 33
Orange 69, Red 67, ovt.
Maroon 51, Ash 47, ovt.
Forest Green 85, Kelly Green 84, ovt.
Bye: Purple

Thurs., July 16

Gold 65, Purple 60
Pink 69, Orange 48
Neon Green 72, Kelly Green 48
Maroon 74, Sapphire Blue 65
Red 2, Forest Green 0, forfeit
Black 2, Royal Blue 0, forfeit
Bye: Ash Grey

Tues., July 14

Neon Green 72, Orange 66, ovt.
Gold 61, Black 55
Pink 56, Ash Grey 38
Sapphire Blue 70, Red 65
Maroon 68, Purple 63
Kelly Green 73, Royal Blue 52
Bye: Forest Green

Thurs., July 9

Sapphire Blue 70, Neon Green 67, 2 ovt.
Gold 2, Red 0, forfeit
Pink 34, Purple 31
Forest Green 79, Royal Blue 54
Black 54, Ash 43
Kelly Green 67, Orange 62
Bye: Maroon

Tues., July 7

Pink 52, Black 42
Gold 72, Forest Green 56
Neon Green 72, Purple 60
Maroon 68, Red 63
Ash Grey 74, Kelly Green 68
Sapphire Blue 58, Royal Blue 41
Bye: Orange

Thurs., July 2
Maroon 67, Royal Blue 51
Ash 56, Sapphire Blue 59
Pink 60, Forest Green 56
Kelly Green 68, Black 51
Neon Green 75, Red 73
Purple 63, Orange 56
Bye: Gold

Tues., June 30

Red 60, Purple 47
Orange 89, Royal Blue 43
Gold 76, Kelly Green 60
Maroon 67, Black 48
Forest Green 60, Sapphire Blue 54
Neon Green 2, Ash 0, forfeit
Bye: Pink

Thurs, June 25

Maroon 77, Orange 56
Purple 59, Sapphire Blue 54
Red 94 , Kelly Green 64
Gold 2, Ash 0, forfeit
Pink 87, Royal Blue 31
Bye: Neon Green

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
Bye: Kelly Green

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
Bye: Black

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
Bye: Sapphire Blue

Scoring 20 Points or More

32-Chelsea Woods, Red (L) vs. Maroon (W) – July 7
31-Dallas Ely, Maroon (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – July 2
31-Chelsea Woods, Red (W) vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 25
30 Chelsea Wood, Red (L-Ovt) vs. Orange, (W) – July 21
30 Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – July 21
30- Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W), vs. Forest Green (L) - June 23
30-Maureen Leahy, Neon Green (W), vs. Forest Green (L) –June 23
29-Sarah Fairbanks, Pink (L) vs. Purple (W) – quarterfinals – July 30
29-Megan Quinn, Neon Green (L-2ovt) vs. Sapphire Blue (W), July 9
28-Chelsea Woods, Red (L), vs. Neon Green (W) – July 2
28- Chelsea Woods, Red (W), vs. vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 23
28-Chelsea Woods, Red (L), vs. Pink (W) – June 18
27-Chelsea Woods, Red (W), vs. Ash (L) – July 23
26-Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W) vs. Black (L), quarterfinals – July 30
26-Chelsea Woods, Red (L) vs. Sapphire Blue (W) – July 14
26-Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W-ovt.) vs. Orange (L) – July 14

25-Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W), vs. Red (L) – July 2
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-Mary Ellen McCollum, Kelly Green (L-ovt.) vs. Forest Green (W) – July 21
24-Amanda Fioravanti, Kelly Green (W) vs. Orange (L) – July 9
24-Jasmine Elum, Gold (W) vs. Forest Green (L) – July 7
24-Jasmine Elum, Gold (W) vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 30
24-Sarah Fairbanks, Pink (W) vs. Red (L) – June 18
24-Tyniqua Henderson, Royal Blue (L) vs. Gold (W) – June 18

23-Sarah Fairbanks, Pink (W) vs. Maroon (L) – July 23
23-Katie O’Hare, Forest Green (W-ovt), vs. Kelly Green (L) – July 21
23-Dallas Ely, Maroon (W), vs. Sapphire Blue – July 16
23-Amanda Fioravanti, Kelly Green (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – July 14
23-Mackenzie Carroll, Orange (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 25
23-Lauren Crisler, Gold (W) vs. Maroon (L) – June 23
22-Jenna Swope, Kelly Green (L-ovt.) vs. Forest Green (W) – July 21
22-Sarah Fairbanks, Pink (W) vs. Forest Green (L) – July 2
22-Alex Thomas, Purple (W) vs. Sapphire Blue (L) – June 25
22-Micah Morgan, Purple (W), vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 18
21-Johanna McMillan, Pink (W), vs. Maroon (L) – July 23
21-Jasmine Elum, Gold (W), vs. Purple (L) – July 17
21-Alex Louin, Neon Green (W), vs. Purple (L) – July 7
21-Aunjel Van Brakle, Ash (W), vs. Kelly Green (W) – July 7
21-Chelsea Woods, Red (W) vs. Purple (L) – June 25
21 Sarah Payonk, Pink (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 25
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 (L) – June 18

20-Emily O’Donnell, Sapphire Blue (L), vs. Maroon (W) – July 16
20-Emily O’Donnell, Sapphire Blue (W) vs. Red (L) – July 14
20-Micah Morgan 20, Purple (L) vs. Maroon (W) – July 14
20-Samantha Stipa, Neon Green (W), vs. Red (L) – July 2
20-Maggie Locke, Royal Blue (L) vs. Orange (W) – June 25
20-Mary Ellen McCollum, Kelly Green (L) vs, Red (L) – June 25
20-Margaret Melham, Red (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 23
20-Brittany Sicinski, Maroon (L) vs. Gold (W) – June 23

Tie-Break Tracker

#-Gold (10-1) vs. O (W), RB (W), vs. M (W), Ash (W-*F), KG(W), FG(W), Red (W-*F), Black (W), Pur(W), PK (W) NG (L), SB (W)
Pink (10-1) vs. NG (W), Red (W), SB (W), RB(W), FG(W), Black (W), Purple (W), A(W), O (W), Gold (L), M(W), KG (W-*F).

Neon Green (9-3) vs. Pnk(L), M(W), FG (W), Ash (W-*F), Red(W), Purp (L), SB(L-2ovt.), O (W-ovt.), KG(W), RB (W), Gold (W) Black (L).

Maroon (8-4) vs. KG (W), NG (L), G(L).O(W), Black (W), RB(W), Red(W), Purple (W), SB (W), Ash (W-ovt.), Pink (L), FG (L-*F).

$-Sapphire Blue (6-6) vs. O(W), Pink(L),Purple(L), FG(L), Ash(L), RB(W), NG (W-2ovt.), Red(W), M(L), Black (W), KG (W) Gold (L).
Black (6-6) vs. Red (W), O (W), FG(L), M(L), KG(L), Pink (L), Ash (W), Gold (L), RB (W-*F), SB (L), Purple (W), NG (W).
Purple (6-6) vs. FG (W), KG (W), A(W), SB(W), Red (L), O(W), NG(L), Pink (L), M(L), Gold (L), Black (L) , RB (W).

^-Red (5-7) vs. Blk (L), Pink (L), RB(W), KG(W), Purp(W), NG(L), M(L), Gold (L-*F), SB(L), FG(W-*F), O(L-ovt.), Ash (W).
Forest Green (5-7) vs. Purp (L), Ash (L), NG(L),B(W), SB(W),Pink(L),Gold (L), RB(W), Red (L-*F), KG(W-ovt.), Or (L), M (W-F*).

%-Orange (4-8) vs. Gold (L), SB (L), B(L),M(L), RB(W),Purple(L), KG(L), NG(L), Pink (L), Red (W-ovt.), FG (W), Ash (W).
Ash (4-8) vs. RB (W), FG (W), Purple (L), Gold (L-*F), NG(L-*F), SB(W), KG(W), Black (L), Pnk(L), M(L), Red (L), Orange (L)

Kelly Green (3-9) vs. M (L), Purp (L),Red(L), Gold(L),Black(W), Ash (L), O(W), RB(W), NG (L), FG (L-ovt.), SB (L), Pink (L-*F).

Royal Blue (0-12) vs. Ash (L), Gold (L), Red (L),Pink(L), O(L),M(L), SB(L), FG(L), KG(L), Black(L-*F), NG(L), Purple (L).

*-Forfeit win or loss

#-Gold holds first on head to head win over Pink.

$-Three-Way Sapphire Blue, Black, and Purple all 1-1. Sapphire Blue and Black both beat Neon Green on best win, dropping Purple to seventh and then Sapphire Blue beat Black on head-to-head to fifth seed and black at sixth.

^-Red takes eighth seed on head-to-head win over Forest Green.

%-Orange takes 10th place on head-to-head win over Ash Grey.




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