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 01, 2015

Philly Summer League: Woods Leads Red to Upset Over Purple

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Another big evening from Saint Joseph’s sophomore Chelsea Woods carried Red to a 60-47 upset of previously unbeaten Purple (4-1) also known in the winter as the DII USciences squad, and into a fifth-place tie with Maroon (3-2) Tuesday night in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in Hatboro, Pa.

Defending champion Gold (5-0) stayed perfect with a 76-60 triumph over winless Kelly Green (0-4) and moved into sole possession of first place a half-game ahead of idle Pink (4-0), which served its bye and is the only other remaining unbeaten squad of the 13 in the league.

Neon Green (3-1), another team starting to get into the mix, came off its bye to get a win while being idle as Ash (2-3) also known as Millersville, for the most part of its roster, gave up its second straight forfeit for another 2-0 setback.

In a game in which someone was going to get their first victory of the summer Orange (1-4) topped Royal Blue 89-43 to send the opponent all alone at the bottom of the standings, though Kelly Green is only a half-game ahead alone in 12th place.

With one of the two nights scheduled for week three completed, the standings are set in true order for the first time this season.

Factoring the byes to date – Gold is next to have the night off on Thursday – teams have either played the maximum five or just four if having served a bye.

Just four players hit the Guru night individual 20-or-more points standard highlighted by Jasmine Elum with 24 points fueled by one of the better marks in league history with seven connected 3-pointers playing for Gold.

Woods has scored 20 or more points in four of her five games with the three previous wins collecting 31, the league high to date; and 28 twice.

Two other of the performances occurred in the same game with Mackenzie Carroll, an incoming freshman at Colgate out of Central Bucks West scoring 20 points for the winning Orange squad and Maggie Locke, a Holy Cross freshman out of Spring-Ford, scoring 20 for Royal Blue.

Looking Ahead

On Thursday night, the highlight in the six games under three doubleheaders has Neon Green meeting Red in the 7 p.m. game on Court 3. While teams are separating themselves in the standings to eventually determine eight playoff participants at the end of this month none of the higher group will meet each other.

Next week after the holiday, which doesn’t affect the schedule this summer because of when July 4th fell, Purple meets Neon Green at 7 p.m. Tuesday night on Court 1, Black and Pink meet the same time on Court 3 while Red and Maroon, currently tied for fifth, meet each other at 8:15 p.m. on Court 2.

On Thursday next week Purple and Pink meet on Court 2 at 7 p.m. followed by Gold and Red at the same location. Orange will serve its bye on Tuesday night while Maroon gets the night off Thursday.

Moving Up

Congratulations to Saint Joseph’s assistant Jada Pierce, who landing her first Division I head coaching job Tuesday, being announced at Niagara. She has been helpful to longtime commissioner David Kessler in the summer league in recommending the Hawks duos who should play together on the various teams under the NCAA rule that only allows two each from respective Division I programs unless an incoming freshman hasn’t enrolled.

The regulation is not applicable for graduates, however.

Breaking Ties

There are now only two deadlocks at the moment with Red in fifth breaking its tie with Maroon off a better win off Tuesday’s upset of Purple, while in eighth place Ash, despite the two forfeits, gets the upper hand off Forest Green with a head-to-head win.

Everyone else, beginning with Gold, as mentioned, stands alone in their position. Since more upper portion teams are going head-to-head with lower portions squads the next two nights, things will either get tighter through upsets or separation will grow more off the favorites being able to prevail.

Tuesday’s Recaps

Gold 76, Kelly Green 60: The performance of Elum, a 2012 Bethune-Cookman graduate out of Bodine High, has already been mentioned for the unbeaten champs (5-0), while Kristalyn Baisden, a Saint Joseph’s freshman, scored 14 points off four treys, and American University’s Lauren Crisler of North Penn and Danielle Derr, a 2013 Bloomsburg graduate from Upper Dublin, each scored 12.

Megan Gallagher, a 2014 DeSales grad from St. Basil, scored 15 for Royal Blue (0-4) and and Jenna Swope, a recent Gettysburg graduate from Archbishop Wood, scored 12 off four 3-pointers.

Red 60, Purple 47: Besides Woods’ night for Red (3-2), Saint Joseph’s senior Ciara Andrews out of Cheltenham, scored 16 points.

Micah Morgan of USciences out of Caravel High scored 13 for Purple (4-1), which held third despite the loss to stay a game out of first, while Sarah Abbonizio, a 2020-listed Devils projected graduate out of Episcopal Academy, scored 11.

Maroon 67, Black 48: Locked in a tie for fifth with Red, Maroon (3-2), also known as the Division II West Chester group, got 18 points from senior Brittany Sicinski of Downingtown West, while Mariah Powell, a senior out of Bayard Rustin, and senior Kendall Benovy out of Hershey High each scored 12.

As Black (2-2), also known as Division II Philadelphia U, which has played West Chester in the winter, fell to .500 alone in seventh place, Alexandra Heck, a senior out of Archbishop Wood, scored nine points, Valez Jackson, a freshman from Merion Mercy, scored eight points, and Mary Newell, a senior from Villa Joseph Marie, also scored eight points.

Orange 89, Royal Blue 43: In the first win for Orange (1-4), besides Carroll’s performance mentioned in the opening to today’s post, Lauren Rothfeld, a Salisbury junior out of Upper Dublin, scored 15 fueled by four treys and that overall point total was matched by Lindsey Kelly, a Nazareth College senior out of Central Bucks East.

Besides the 20 from Locke, the predominately Penn State-Abington Royal Blue (0-5) group got 10 from Elizabeth Jones, shooting 7-for-8 from the line.

Forest Green 60, Sapphire Blue 54: This was the closest game of the night – incidentally the Guru was in Connecticut for a WNBA game and writing this while almost all the way home. Indy’s Maggie Lucas, a former Penn State sensation from Narberth got hurt late in the game and her status was unknown after being carried off the floor.

The Guru will be on the scene Thursday night.

Back in Lower Bucks County, Erin Fenningham, a Division II Holy Family senior, got 11 points for Forest Green (2-3), composed primarily of Tigers players, while that total was matched by Alexandra Sommers, an MCCC senior, and Michala Clay, another Saint Joseph’s freshman, scored 10.

Emily O’Donnell, an Albright senior from William Tennent, scored 14 points for Sapphire Blue (1-3), which is dominated by East Stroudsburg, a Division II program up in the Poconos. Michelle Boggs, a senior from Springside, scored eight points, while Samantha Hicks, a Bryn Athyn College freshman from Archbishop Ryan, and Noelle Powell, an East Stroudsburg freshman from Bayard Rustin, each scored seven points.

Neon Green 2, Ash 0 (forfeit): Neon Green (3-1), would have probably won this anyway the way the Villanova duo of Megan Quinn and Alex Louin have been playing, but the no-show from Ash (2-3) meant Neon Green players, coming out of the bye, had two straight nights of being

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

(Thru Wed., July 1)
(True Order This Week)

%-Gold 5-0 –- 304 244 1.000
Pink 4-0 0.5 272 182 1.000
Purple 4-1 1.0- 290 232 .800
%-Neon Green 3-1 1.5 214 166 .750
Red 3-2 2.0 335 335 .600
Maroon 3-2 2.0 347 314 .600
Black 2-2 2.5 224 212 .500
&-Ash 2-3 3.0 166 171 .400
Forest Green 2-3 3.0 272 334 .500
Sapphire 1-3 3.5 00 219 233 .250
Orange 1-4 4.0 295 300 .200
Kelly 0-3 4.5 218 295 .000
Royal Blue 0-5 5.0 256 396 .000

%-includes 1 forfeit 2-0 win
&-includes 2 forfeit 0-2 losses


Season Results

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
Forest Green 56, Black 55

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

Looking Ahead

Thurs., July 2

7 p.m.

Pink (4-0) vs. Forest Green (2-3), Court 1
Sapphire Blue (1-3) vs. Ash (2-3), Court 2
Neon Green (3-1) vs Red (3-2), Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Kelly Green (0-4) vs. Black (2-2), Court 1
Maroon (3-2) vs. Royal Blue (0-5), Court 2
Orange (1-4) vs. Purple (4-1) , Court 3

Bye: Gold (5-0)

Tues., July 7

7 p.m.

Purple vs. Neon Green, Court 1
Royal Blue v. Sapphire Blue, Court 2
Black vs. Pink, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Red vs. Maroon, Court 1
Ash vs. Kelly Green, Court 2
Forest Green vs. Gold, Court 3

Bye: Orange

Thurs., July 9

7 p.m.

Neon Green vs,. Sapphire Blue, Court 1
Purple vs. Pink, Court 2
Forest Green vs. Royal Blue, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Orange vs. Kelly Green, Court 1
Gold vs. Red, Court 2
Black vs. Ash, Court 3

Bye: Maroon

Scoring 20 Points or More

31-Chelsea Woods, Red (W) vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 25
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-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-Mackenzie Carroll, Orange (W) vs. Royal Blue (L) – June 25
23-Lauren Crisler, Gold (W) vs. Maroon (L) – June 23
22-Alex Thomas, Purple (W) vs. Sapphire Blue (L) – June 25
22-Micah Morgan, Purple (W), vs. Kelly Green (L) – June 18
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 – June 18
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

True Order This Week

Gold (5-0) vs. O (W), RB (W), vs. M (W), Ash (W-*F), KG(W)
Pink (4-0) vs. NG (W), Red (W), SB (W), RB(W)
Purple (4-1) vs. FG (W), KG (W), A(W), SB(W), Red (L)
Neon Green (3-1) vs. Pink(L), M(W), FG (W), Ash (W-*F)
Red (3-2) vs. Blk (L), Pink (L), RB(W),KG(W), Purp(W)
Maroon (3-2) vs. KG (W), NG (L), G(L).O(W), Black (W)
Black (2-2) vs. Red (W), O (W), FG(L), M(L)
Ash (2-3) vs. RB (W), FG (W), Purple (L), Gold (L-*F), NG(L-*F)
Forest Green (2-3) vs. Purp (L), Ash (L), NG(L),B(W), SB(W)
Sapphire Blue (1-3) O(W), Pink(L),Purp(L), FG(L)
Orange (1-4) vs. Gold (L), SB (L), B(L),M(L), RB(W)
Kelly Green (0-4) vs. M (L), Purp (L),Red(L), Gold(L)
Royal Blue (0-5) vs. Ash (L), Gold (L), Red (L),Pink(L), O(L)

*-Forfeit win or loss

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- Posted using BlogPress from the Guru's iPad



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