Philly Summer League: USciences End Gold's Reign While Neon Green Cruises in Semifinals

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

HATBORO, Pa. -- Two shots of revenge, one of which produced a big upset Tuesday night, were the story of the semifinals of the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades in Lower Bucks County.

A year after being an early knockout of a six-team tiebreak for the final spots in the eight-team playoffs ,Division II- USciences, this year playing in the league as Team Purple, is heading for the Devils’ first title showdown game afte upsetting top seed and defending champion Gold 54-42 in the opener that was delayed for about 20 minutes due to people caught in the massive traffic jam nearby on the Pennsylvania Turnpike caused by a truck accident.

Team Purple will face third-seeded Neon Green (9-3), which advanced with an easy 68-49 win over 5th seeded Sapphire Blue, also known as Division II East Stroudsburg.

Sapphire Blue (6-6), which took the fifth seed in a three-way fifth-place tie break with Team Black, also known as Division II Philadelphia University, and Purple, had recently upset Neon Green 70-67 in double overtime late last month.

The win puts Neon Green coach Ted Hagedorn back in the championship round where two seasons ago he took the crown with a team headlined by former Saint Joseph’s stars Katie Kuester and Erin Shields who are now on Joe Logan’s staff at Loyola of Maryland.

Villanova junior Megan Quinn out of Episcopal Academy had another standout game for Neon Blue, scoring 22 points and connecting on four 3-pointers.

Quinn was the only player among the four teams to hit the nightly performance standard of scoring 20 or more points, which she had also done seven times overall, including two nights scoring 30 points each.

Samantha Stipa, a Lafayette sophomore out of Spring-Ford who will be one of the Leopards under the return of Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Theresa Grentz to the coaching ranks, added 18 points to the Neon Green attack, while Villanova sophomore Alex Louin out of Mount St. Joseph’s scored 12 points.

Five other Neon Green players also collected points.

Melissa Poderis, an East Stroudsburg senior out of Villa Jos. Marie, was the only Sapphire Blue player in double figures, scoring 10 points, while Emily O’Donnell, an Albright senior out of William Tennent, scored eight points, and Michelle Boggs, an ESU senior out of Springside, scored seven points ahead of six other summer teammates who also scored.

Purple (6-6), which narrowly lost to Gold 65-60 in the regular season, had already pulled a shocker in the quarterfinals last Thursday eliminating second-seeded Pink, also known as Division III Scranton 57-56, now making it perhaps the first time a deep under seed has cut down the top two teams prior to the championship round.

Gold and Pink finished tied at the top with 11-1 records with Gold getting the No. 1 seed on a head-to-head tiebreak and earning the regular season awards from longtime league commissioner David Kessler, who admitted he almost didn’t bring them along, thinking Gold would still be alive to return to the title round.

The result made him obviously relieved he decided to bring them along just in case.

“We only scored 25 points in the first half – how does that happen,” said Gold coach Keith Wood, who was missing Penn’s Taylor Bryant (earlier knee injury), American U.’s Lauren Crisler and Saint Joseph’s sophomore Adashia Franklyn, though he didn’t think the absences had as much as an effect.

“Missed shots and turnovers,” he said, adding, “I knew the night might be trouble when I was stuck on the turnpike.”

Nine different players scored for Team Purple, led by freshman Alex Thomas, who scored 14 points, while senior Natalie Stella out of Wilmington Christian scored 11 points and Colleen Walsh, a Devils sophomore out of the Shipley School, who scored nine.

The Devils held a small lead most of the night but in the fourth quarter with their top members on the court, they pulled away as Gold was forced to foul.

Incidentally, under NCAA rules entire Division II and III squads are allowed to play together and the coach is allowed to be in the venue, while only two from the same Division I schools can be on the same squad and the regular coach cannot be on the scene. .

Gold’s seven scorers were topped by Shira Newman, a 2013 Millersville grad out of Upper Dublin, who collected 12 points, while Ashley Wood, a 2014 Kutztown grad out of Spring-Ford, who is the coach’s daughter, had seven points as did Alex Smith, a a 2014 Holy Cross graduate out of the Peddie School.

The latest achievement here continues a roll USciences, formerly known as University of the Sciences of Philadelphia (USP), has been on since classes resumed a year ago.

The Devils last winter, under then second-year coach Jackie Hartzell, a former five-year coach at Archbishop Ryan in Northeast Philadelphia, captured their first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division title in March and she was named the conference’s coach of the year.

The team went 19-7, upset in non-conference then-ranked No. 5 Tampa on the road to start a school-record 16-game win streak.

Recently graduated Kaitlyn Schmid, who played in the summer league in the past, set an NCAA Division II turnover/assist record with a 4.25 mark – you’re usually doing great at 2.0 — with a mark of 135/32. Her achievement was best among all three NCAA division leaders.

It’s the first time USciences has ever had an NCAA statistical winner.

Schmid has recently become a graduate assistant at Division I Southern Mississippi.

Inside the classroom, according to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), which charts such things, the USciences group had a 3.637 grade point average, which put the Devils in the top 10 at ninth in Division II out of 315 schools.

Now comes the final test for this summer.

This is the one game that Commissioner Kessler turns on the public address system to announce the action and afterwards in addition to the regular-season handouts that went to Gold, additional awards will be presented to the winners and runnersup of Thursday’s contest.

Tipoff is 7 p.m. on Court 1.

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)

Thurs., Aug. 6

Championship

Court 1

7 p.m.

^3-Neon Green (9-3) vs. 7- Purple (6-6)

Tues., Aug. 4

Semifinals Results

7-Purple 54, 1-Gold 42
3-Neon Green 68, 5-Sapphire Blue 49

Thurs., July 30

Quarterfinals Results

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

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-Megan Quinn, Neon Green (W) vs. Sapphire Blue (L), semifinals – August 4
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 (W), 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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