Philly Women's Summer League: Huge Rally and Some Explosive Scoring Highlight Night No. 2

By Mel Greenberg - @womhoopsguru

 HATBORO, Pa. – One of the great comebacks in recent history, executed by Maroon, an explosive performance by Purple and Gold, and a narrow win by Sky Blue highlighted Thursday night’s action and the end of opening week in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Certified Summer Basketball League.

Team Maroon, which is primarily Division II USciences, trailed Red, which was coming off a 2-0 forfeit win over Orange, by 20-5 in the first half but rallied for a 59-53 win in overtime.

Team Red is primarily Division II West Chester.

Meanwhile recent Saint Joseph’s graduate Ciara Andrews, a former Cheltenham High star, nailed two free throws at the finish to score 25 points for the second straight night and give Sky Blue a 67-66 win over Hunter Green to stay unbeaten at 2-0.

Alex Smith, a 2014 Holy Cross star out of the Peddie School, poured down 28 points, while Saint Joseph’s junior Adaisha Franklyn out of Bayard Rustin scored 22 to give Gold a dominating 90-63 win over White, which fell to 0-2 while Gold stayed unbeaten.

Franklyn’s mother, Temple all-time great and Big Five Hall of Famer Marilyn Stephens, a graduate of Gratz, was in attendance in the competition at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades.

Kelsey Watson, a Kutztown senior out of Methacton, scored 23 for White, which is also primarily the Kutztown Division II squad.

Chelsea Woods, a Saint Joseph’s junior, had another big night, scoring 23 points to give Purple its first win, 88-45, over Orange (0-2), which was coming off an opening night forfeit, thus taking the court for the first time in the opening week.

In all, seven players hit the 20 points or more highlight standard on Thursday.

Besides, Smith, Franklyn, Andrews, Watson, and Woods, Micah Morgan, a USciences sophomore out of Caravel in Wilmington, Del., fueled the Maroon rally, finishing with 20 points, and Alexis Roman, a Division III Scranton senior, scored 26 for Hunter Green in its narrow setback to Sky Blue.

In some news provided by longtime commissioner David Kessler with the nightly results, Erin Maher, a Philadelphia University (Team Black) junior out of North Penn, and Candace Belvedere, a Saint Joseph’s junior, who are league veterans but are currently rehabbing from surgeries, were in the house for Thursday’s action.

The updated standings, the ongoing results, a look ahead to Tuesday, next week’s schedule, all players scoring 20 or more points in a game this season, and the rolling tiebreaker seed order for the playoffs, but not yet in proper sequence because it’s too early, are all below, but first here’s the complete recap from Thursday.

Special thanks to Bob Heller, who provided the Maroon rallied information, and at nights when the Guru is off on the WNBA trail, though there are not that many conflict, he has volunteered to handle the top of the report.

Re-Caps

Maroon 59, Red 53, overtime – Besides Morgan’s 20 points, Alyx McKiernan, a USciences sophomore, scored 12 points, Alex Thomas, a USciences sophomore, scored 8 points, and Laura Trisch, a Devils junior out of Archbishop Wood, scored 7 points and was 4-for-4 from the line.

Victoria Smick, a West Chester senior out of Woodstown, scored 17 while Gabby Troisi, a Golden Rams freshman from Pope John Paul II, scored 14.

After trailing 20-5, Maroon sliced its deficit to to eight at the half at 28-20..

Incidentally, the league plays using all current NCAA rules and actually got a head start last summer making the switch from two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters.

Morgan, Trisch, and Thomas fueled a push in the third quarter on a 15-6 spurt that gave Maroon its first lead at 35-34 at the midway mark of the period and continued on an 8-5 run to hold on to a narrow 43-39 advantage with 10 minutes left in regulation.

The West Chester group mounted a rally of their own with three straight unanswered baskets but Maroon regained the advantage 51-49 with about three minutes left in regulation off an 8-4 counter rally.

Maroon slowed things down and when the clock dropped under 90 seconds Trisch hit two free throws for a 53-49.

But Red was not done, rallying to tie the game, but after unable to win in regulation by getting a shot off, the action went into an extra period.

The Devils defense took over in the extra period, holding Red scoreless and taking the 59-53 win. After falling way behind, Maroon outscored Red 54-33 in the final three quarters and overtime.

Gold 90, White 63 – Besides the scoring from Smith, who had five 3-pointers, and Franklyn, Mia Hopkins, a Bloomsburg senior, had 14 points for the winners, while 2012 La Salle grad Michel McCaughern added 13 for the Keith Woods-coached Gold squad.

In addition to Watson’s points for White, Taylor Thames, a Kutztown sophomore out of North Penn, had 13 points, and Sierra Taylor, a Kutztown freshman out of Camden Catholic, scored 15 points.

Purple 88, Orange 45 – Woods had three treys on the way to her 23 points for Purple while Shayna Rodriguez, a Penn State-Abington sophomore, had 17 points, and Symantha Marrero, a PSU-Abington junior out of Central High, scored 10.

Six players from PSU-Abington are on the Purple squad.

Kendall Grasela, a Penn freshman out of Germantown Academy heading for the defending Ivy League champions, scored 15 for the Orange team and was 5-for-5 from the line, while Maura Ryan, an Albright freshman out of Springfield Township, scored 11 points.

Sky Blue 67, Hunter Green 66 – Besides Andrews’ big night for the winners, Stephanie Petery, a Mercyhurst freshman out of Pope John Paul II, scored 10 points, Jessica Gerber, a Kenyon sophomore out of Council Rock North, scored 9, as did Ayanna Matthews, a Princeton frosh out of Penn Charter.

Behind Roman’s 26 for Hunter Green, Rachel Guy, an Ursinus junior out of Cardinal O’Hara, and Katherine Feehery, a Scranton junior out of Cardinal O’Hara, each scored 10 points.

Royal Blue 56, Kelly Green 44 – Katie Armstrong, a Saint Joseph’s freshman out of Perkiomen Valley, scored 13 points, while Madison Tamburini, an East Stroudsburg senior out of Archbishop Wood, scored 10 points, and Meghan Pickell, an Ithaca sophomore out of Episcopal Academy, shot 7-for-9 from the line and finished with 9 points, and Noelle Powell, an East Stroudsburg sophomore out of Bayard Rustin, scored 8 to get the winners to 1-1.

The Royal Blue team is primarily Division II East Stroudsburg.

Danielle Skedzielewski, a Delaware Valley sophomore out of Archbishop Ryan, scored 13 for Kelly Green, which stayed winless at 0-2. Zoe Hahn, a Stevens Tech freshman out of Kingsway Regional, scored 11 points.

Pink 63, Black 51 – Mackenzie Carroll, a Colgate sophomore out of Central Bucks West, scored 16 points to keep Pink one of four unbeatens during opening week, while Lauren Rothfeld, a Salisbury senior out of Upper Dublin, scored 12 points, and Emily Walls, a Moravian sophomore out of Bayard Rustin, scored 11 points.

For the predominantly Philadelphia University bunch that comprise the Black squad, Erin Rafter, a Rams junior out of Washington Township, and Jacqueline McCarron, a Rams senior out of Lansdale Catholic, each scored 11 points, while Alynna Williams, a Rams freshman out of Plymouth Whitemarsh, scored 10.

Looking Ahead

Right now four teams are tied for first after the first week at 2-0, four are tied for fifth at 1-1, and four are tied for ninth at 0-2. Because there are only 12 teams instead of 13, the early standings flow will be different and games behind will be all whole numbers because there are no byes this season to create an incremental .5 until everyone caught up to the same number of games at the close of the regular season prior to the playoffs.

So on Tuesday as teams try to separate themselves, unbeaten Gold and Sky Blue at 2-0 will meet at 8:15 p.m. on Court 1, while Hunter Green and Royal Blue will break their 1-1 deadlock, meeting at 7 p.m. on Court 2.

One team will get its first win when Black and White at 0-2 meet at 7 p.m. on Court 3.

The complete slate is listed below with current records and Thursday’s matchups are listed underneath with the records to be updated after Tuesday’s games. At some point we will start to get ahead putting schedule dates into the format but the league’s facebook page may have the whole season.

Rosters, which are there, were also posted last week on this blog. 

Standings

(Thru June 20)

Team,  W-L, Pct., G.B., PF, PA

Gold, 2-0, 1.000, --, 153 115

Sky Blue, 2-0, 1.000, --, 157 132

Maroon, 2-0, 1.000, --, 121 108

Pink, 2-0, 1.000, --, 135 116

Hunter Green, 1-1, .500, 1.0, 114 111

%-Red,1-1,.500,1.0 , 55 59

Purple, 1-1, .500, 1.0, 153 117

Royal Blue, 1-1, .500, 1.0, 111 106

Black, 0-2, .000, 2.0, 103 126

Kelly Green, 0-2, .000, 2.0, 110 146

@-Orange, 0-2, .000, 2.0 45 90

White, 0-2, .000, 2.0 107 138

%-includes forfeit win

@-includes forfeit loss

Tuesday’s Games

7 p.m.

Maroon (2-0) vs. Purple (1-1), Court 1

Hunter Green (1-1) vs. Royal Blue (1-1), Court 2

Black (0-2) and White (0-2), Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Gold (2-0) vs. Sky Blue (2-0), Court 1

Red (1-1) vs. Kelly Green (0-2), Court 2

Pink (2-0) vs. Orange (0-2), Court 3

Thursday’s Games

7 p.m.

Royal Blue vs. Sky Blue, Court 1

Orange vs. Kelly Green, Court 2

Purple vs. Gold, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Black vs. Maroon, Court 1

Red vs. White, Court 2

Hunter Green vs. Pink, Court 3

Results

Thursday, June 16

Sky Blue 67, Hunter Green 66

Pink 63, Black 51

Maroon 59, Red 53, overtime

Purple 88, Orange 45

Gold 90, White 63

Royal Blue 56, Kelly Green 44

Wednesday, June 15

Hunter Green 48, White 44

Sky Blue 90, Kelly Green 66

Pink 72, Purple 65

Gold 63. Black 52

Maroon 62, Royal Blue 55

Red 2, Orange 0, forfeit

Individual Scoring 20 Or More Points

32-Chelsea Woods, Purple, L, vs. Pink, June 15

28-Alex Smith, Gold, W, vs. White, June 16

26-Alexix Roman, Hunter Green, L, vs. Sky Blue, June 16

25-Ciara Andrews, Sky Blue, W, vs. Sky Blue, June 16

25-Ciara Andrews, Sky Blue, W, vs. Kelly Green, June 15

23-Kelsey Watson, White, L, vs. Gold, June 16

23-Chelsea Woods, Purple, W, vs. Orange, June 16

22-Adaisha Franklyn, Gold, W, vs. White, June 16

21-Julia Glantz, Hunter Green, W, vs. White, June 15

21-Jessica Gerber, Sky Blue, W, vs. Kelly Green, June 15

21-K.T. (Katie) Armstrong, Royal Blue, L, vs. Maroon, June 15

20-Micah Morgan, Maroon, W-OT, vs. Red, June 16

Seed Tracker (not yet in order)

Gold (2-0) vs. Blk (W), vs. White (W), 

Maroon (2-0) vs. RB (W), vs. Red (W-OT),

Pink (2-0) vs. Purp (W), vs. Blk (W),

Sky Blue (2-0) vs. KG (W), vs. HG (W),

Red (1-1) vs. Org (%-W), vs. M (L-OT),

Hunter Green (1-1) vs. White (W), vs. SB (L),

Purple (1-1) vs. Pink (L), vs. Org (W), 

Royal Blue (1-1) vs. M (L), vs. KG (W),

Black (0-2) vs. Gold (L), vs. Pk (L),

Kelly Green (0-2) vs. SB (L), vs. RB (L),

Orange (0-2) vs. Red (@-L), vs. Purp (L),

White (0-2) vs. HG (L), vs. Gold (L),

%-forfeit win

@-forfeit loss

Bob Heller contributed to this report