Philly Women's Summer League: Team Pink Gains OT Win and Becomes the Last Unbeaten

By Mel Greenberg - @womhoopsguru

And Bob Heller

 HATBORO, Pa. – An overtime win and a forfeit loss left Team Pink as the only unbeaten team after Thursday night’s action in the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Certified Women’s Basketball Summer League. 

Lauren Rothfield, a senior from Salisbury University hit two free throws with 5.9 seconds left in overtime to put Pink  ahead for good as they defeated Hunter Green 70-66, becoming the lone undefeated team in the league at 4-0. 

 Rothfield led all scorers in the game, which was close all the way, with 20 points.  Hunter Green’s Amanda McGrogan (13 points) tied the game and sent it into overtime with a long three point shot as time expired in regulation.  Alexis Roman led Hunter with 17 points.  

Earlier in the evening, Gold, which narrowly avoided an earlier forefeit on opening night at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades,  forfeited their game to Purple, dropping them from the ranks of the unbeaten and into a four-way logjam for second place, with a 3-1 record along with Purple who also improved to 3-1 with the forfeit win. 

Maroon (also known at University of the Sciences) had all ten players score as they handily defeated Black (also known as Philadelphia University) 64-41, to remain at 3-1 on the season and tied for second place. 

 Junior Laura Trisch scored 11 of her team-high 14 points in the third quarter to lead Maroon.  

Alyanna Williams, an incoming freshman this fall at Philadelphia U. led Black with 23 points (four three-pointers) and was the high scorer amongst all the games on the night that closed the second week of action early in the regular season.  Black remains winless at 0-4. 

Sky Blue is the fourth team tied for second place as they rallied from a double digit second half deficit of 17 points  to defeat Royal Blue 78-71.  Recent St. Joseph’s University graduate Ciara Andrews led the team with 20 points, joining Rothfield and Williams as the only players to score 20 or more points in Thursday’s action. 

Orange (1-3), trailing by 14 points at the half, rally and  got their first victory of the season, 71-65 over Kelly Green while White (2-2) came from behind to defeat Red (2-2) (also known as West Chester University), 67-64 in overtime.

The winners exploded on an 18-4 run to start the third quarter. 

  Red, White and Royal Blue are in a three-way tie for sixth at 2-2 while Hunter and Orange are tied for ninth at 1-3.  Kelly Green and Black are at the bottom of the standings at 0-4.

Recaps:

Sky Blue 78, Royal Blue 71 – Andrews was 4-for-4 from the line on the way to her 20 points, while Jessica Gerber, a Kenyon Sophomore out of Council Rock North, nailed four 3-pointers, accounting for most of her 14 points, Lily Kuntz, a Middlebury College freshman out of Episcopal Academy, scored 11, Avery Marz, a Saint Joseph’s freshman back in action after rehabbing the last two years from a stroke, scored 10, while Dylan Higgins, a Cornell freshman out of Episcopal, left the game early with an undetermined knee injury.

Rachel Falkowski, an East Stroudsburg senior out of Central Bucks South,  scored 18 points and was 6-for-6 from the line for Royal Blue, whose roster is dominated by ESU players. Noelle Powell, an ESU sophomore out of Bayard Rustin, also scored 18 points and had three 3-pointers.

Maroon 64, Black 41 – Trisch, who had the team high 14 points, is a USciences sophomore out of Archbishop Wood. Alex Thomas, targeted for 2020 graduation, has 10 points, as did Devils sophomore Alyx McKiernan.

The Maroon squad had held their four opponents to date to 57 points or less, yielding an average of 51.5 points.

As mentioned above, Philadelphia U. freshman Alynna Williams out of Plymouth Whitemarsh had a high for all players on the night with 23 points. She nailed four 3-pointers.

These two teams meet regularly in the winter as part of the Division II competition in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

Orange 71, Kelly Green 65 – Allison Chernow, an Emory freshman out of Upper Dublin, scored 15 points to lead Orange to its first win in a battle of teams that had yet to hit the victory column prior to Thursday. 

Saint Joseph’s senior Mackenzie Rule out of Cardinal O’Hara scored 13 points, as did Morgan Goldenbaum, an Ursinus freshman out of Neshaminy High; and Taylor Dunn, a Catholic U. Freshman out of Central Bucks South, while Erin Lindahl, an Emory freshman out of Germantown Academy, scored 11 points.

Kelly Green in the narrow loss got 17 points from Ashley Smink, a Delaware Valley freshman out of Archbishop Ryan. Delaware Valley has several players on the squad. Danielle Skedzielewski, a Del Val frosh out of Archbishop Ryan, scored 14 points, while Zoe Hahn, a Stevens Tech freshman out of Kingsway Regional, scored 13 points and had three 3-pointers, while Brittany Wood, a recent Del Val grad out of Archbishop Wood, scored 11 points.

White 67, Red 64, OT – Taylor Thames, a Kutztown U. sophomore out of North Penn High had a team high 19 points for White and scored from behind the arc for a trey with 7.9 points left in regulation to force the overtime. Two foul shots from Emily DeAngelis, a Wilkes junior out of Council Rock South, with five seconds left in the overtime helped seal the win for White, which is dominated by Kutztown players on the roster.

Alexandra Heck, a recent Phila. U. grad out of Archbishop Wood, scored 17 points in the White attack while Sierra Taylor, a Kutztown freshman out of Camden Catholic, scored 12 points.

The West Chester Red team got 17 points from Jenna Widdicombe, a Golden Rams sophomore out of John Paul II, while Gabby Troisi, a Golden Rams freshman out of the same high school, scored 14, Tori Smick, a W.C. senior out of Woodstown, scored 13, and Mariah Traywick, a Golden Rams sophomore out of Spring-Ford, scored 10 points.

Pink 70, Hunter Green 66, OT – Forging their way to sole possession of first in the early going, after Rothfeld’s 20 points, Pink got 12 points from Sarah Sherman, a Juniata senior out of Methacton, while Shelby Schoonover, a Lycoming sophomore out of Pennridge, scored 10 points.

Behind 17 from Roman, a Scranton senior, for Hunter Green, who was also 3-for-3 from the line, McGrogan, a Dowling freshman from Lenape who hit the long trey to force the overtime at the end of regulation, scored 13 points, and and Abby Beyer, an Elizabethtown sophomore from Spring-Ford, scored 10 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.

Purple 2, Gold 0, forfeit – The second forfeit of the young season dropped Gold from the unbeaten column and it is possible there could be a wide open race. As it is, most of Thursday’s action was close, attesting to the competitiveness of the rosters.

Extra Points

Since circumstances pushed this report 24 hours later to posting, enough time elapsed to tell you that former league and Saint Joseph’s star Natasha Cloud had a career high 18 points for the Washington Mystics in a 91-79 loss Friday night to the Phoenix Mercury in the nation’s capital.

Cloud, who also is a grad of Cardinal O’Hara is in her second year in the WNBA.

Earlier Thursday, former Gratz and Temple superstar Marilyn Stephens, the mom of Saint Joseph’s junior Adashia Franklyn, a member of Team Gold, was announced as part of this year’s induction class to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

The 16-member group will be enshrined Nov. 3 at the Hilton on City Ave.

Looking Ahead

As fast as Pink got to the top ahead of Gold, the new sole league leaders will be challenged immediately on Tuesday night when Gold and Pink meet at 8:15 p.m. on Court 1.

Hunter Green and Orange, each at 1-3, will get to break their deadlock, meeting in a 7 p.m. game on Court 3.

While the standings are not yet in their natural seed order to determine the eight teams that make the playoffs at the end of next month, this report has them very close but the Guru will not put seed numbers in front until more teams see each other so it will be easier beyond coin flips, for temporary purposes, to break ties in groups.

Standings

(Thru June 27)

Team,  W-L, Pct., G.B., PF, PA

Pink, 4-0, 1.000, --, 280 232

%-Purple, 3-1, .750, 1.0, 212 169

@-Gold, 3-1, .750, 1.0-, 242 176

Maroon, 3-1, .750, 1.0, 237 206

Sky Blue, 3-1, .750, 1.0, 294 292

White, 2-2, .500, 2.0 234 246

Royal Blue, 2-2, .500, 2.0, 262 242

%-Red,2-2 ,.500, 2.0 , 188 194 

Hunter Green, 1-3, .250, 3.0, 238 261

@-Orange, 1-3, .250, 3.0 166 230

Black, 0-4, .000, 4.0, 188 250

Kelly Green, 0-4, .000, 4.0, 241 286

%-includes forfeit win

@-includes forfeit loss

Tuesday’s Games

7 p.m.

Purple (3-1) vs. White (2-2), Court 1

Kelly Green (0-4) vs. Maroon (3-1), Court 2

Hunter Green (1-3)  vs. Orange (1-3), Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Gold (3-1)  vs. Pink (4-0), Court 1

Royal Blue (2-2) vs. Black (0-4), Court 2

Sky Blue (3-1) vs. Red (2-2), Court 3

Thursday, June 30

7 p.m.

Kelly Green vs. Gold, Court 1

Purple vs. Red, Court 2

Pink vs. Royal Blue, Court 3

8:15 p.m.

Maroon vs. White, Court 1

Hunter Green vs. Black, Court 2

Sky Blue vs. Orange, Court 3

Results

Thursday, June 23

Sky Blue 78, Royal Blue 71

Orange 71,  Kelly Green 65

Purple 2,  Gold 0, forfeit

Maroon 64, Black 41

White 67, Red 64, OT

Pink 70, Hunter Green 66, OT

Tuesday, June 21

Purple 57, Maroon 52

Royal Blue 80, Hunter Green 58

Red 69, Kelly Green 66

White 60, Black 44

Gold 89, Sky Blue 59

Pink 75, Orange 50

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

33-Chelsea Woods, Purple, W, vs. Maroon, June 22

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

28-Alex Smith, Gold, W, vs. Sky Blue, June 22

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. Hunter Green, June 16

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

23-Alynna Williams, Black, L, vs. Pink, June 23

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

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

22-Mia Hopkins, Gold, W, vs. Sky Blue, June 22

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-Ciara Andrews, Sky Blue, W, vs. Royal Blue, June 23

20-Lauren Rothfeld, Pink, W-OT, vs. Hunter Green, June 23

20-Mackenzie Rule, Orange, L, vs. vs. Pink, June 22

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

Seed Tracker (not yet in order)

Pink (4-0) vs. Purp (W), vs. Blk (W), vs. Orange, (W), vs. H.G. (W-OT)

Purple (3-1) vs. Pink (L), vs. Org (W), vs. M(W), vs. Gold (W-%) 

Gold (3-1) vs. Blk (W), vs. White (W), vs. SB (W), vs. Purp (L-@) 

Maroon (3-1) vs. RB (W), vs. Red (W-OT), vs. Purple (L), vs. Black (W)

Sky Blue (3-1) vs. KG (W), vs. HG (W), vs. Gold (L), vs. RB (W)

White (2-2) vs. HG (L), vs. Gold (L), vs. Black (W), vs. Red (W-OT)

Royal Blue (2-2) vs. M (L), vs. KG (W), vs. HG (W), vs, SB (L)

Red (2-2) vs. Org (%-W), vs. M (L-OT), vs. Kelly Green (W), vs. White (L-OT))

Hunter Green (1-3) vs. White (W), vs. SB (L), vs RB (L), vs. Pink (L-OT)

Orange (1-3) vs. Red (@-L), vs. Purp (L), vs. Pink (L), vs. KG (W)

Black (0-4) vs. Gold (L), vs. Pk (L), vs. White (L), vs. M (L)

Kelly Green (0-4) vs. SB (L), vs. RB (L), vs Red (L), vs. Orange (L)

%-forfeit win

@-forfeit loss

Special thanks to Bob Heller and league commissioner David Kessler for ongoing assistance with the postgame report coverage and for this go-round helping to offer more detail is assistant commissioner Stephen Michielli.