Philly Women's Summer League: Semifinals Expected to Feature Two Closely-Fought Contests

By Bob Heller and Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

HATBORO, Pa. – Two games, one court.

After a month and a half of twice-a-week three sets of doubleheaders it’s down to the playoff semifinals of the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA-Certified Summer Basketball League here at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Renegades (2950 Turnpike Drive, near the intersection of Byberry and Davisville Roads.

And unlike some previous seasons, there is no clearcut favorite out of either game to get to Thursday night’s championship, which, like Tuesday night, will tip at 7 p.m. Admission is free and the place features a reasonably-priced snack bar for those of you coming right from work.

The top three seeds all prevailed last week in Thursday’s quarterfinals though top-seeded Maroon/USciences got a pass through a 2-0 win via forfeit by Orange/Holy Family, a rival in the winter in the Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

By seed number, No. 5  Electric Green eliminating No. 4 Royal Blue/Kutztown was an upset but in reality both were part of a three-way tie for fourth with Black/Jefferson U.

Ironically, two squads in the 12-team league are the only two that have their own coach, both long timers in the league with Keith Wood coaching White and Steve Flynn, our landlord at this venue, coaching Electric Green.

Both of those teams are the most in terms of diverse collegiate backgrounds on the rosters assembled in the league draft back in May while No. 2 Forest Green/West Chester and Maroon are put together with most of their respective squads from the winter.

Division II and Division III programs are allowed by the NCAA for summer league play to do as such but only two active Division I players from the same school can be teammates, though alumni and yet-to-be-enrolled freshmen are exempt from the count.

Tuesday night’s action, as noted above, begins at 7 as Maroon meets Electric Green, followed at 8:15 when White plays Forest Green.

These matchups could have landed almost any other way depending on how they might have performed on the 11-game regular season schedule that concluded a week ago with two ties at the top, three knotted in fourth place, and three more tied for seventh. Sun/Ursinus via tie-break was then eliminated and the playoff field was set.

Maroon and Forest Green tied for first at 9-2 and the tie-break that gained Maroon the top seed was a double-overtime win over Forest Green in their regular season meeting.

White finished alone in third at 8-3 but in uncharacteristic fashion for them after beating Maroon in the season opener, they managed to lose their next three, initially one to Forest Green, before storming back with a seven-game win streak and and eighth straight with Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Black.

Electric Green, two back at 7-4, struggled early but with Saint Joseph’s senior Chelsea Woods lighting things up, was able to get some consistency and helped itself on July 11 with a 68-60 upset of Forest Green.

When Woods went down recently tweaking her knee, Hannah Fox, the all-time Penn Charter scorer and member of NCAA Division III champion Amherst (33-0), returned in time from the USA gold medalists at the Maccabiah Games in Israel to help Electric Green finish out and win Tuesday’s closely-fought quarterfinal.    

As we did going into the quarterfinals, we are about to give you the whole semifinal preview package with a breakdown of short storyline, a recap from Bob’s in-depth game recap from the night the teams met during the regular season, the rosters, the season schedule recap, and then all the data that your Guru so manages to produce with smoke and mirrors, considering the only statistic kept during the game are points.

However, longtime commissioner David Kessler does mention notable foul shooting and three-point shooting when listing the key scorers in each game when sending the results for us to use in our reports besides his game-night newsletters.

So here we go with the rest of it. 

Records will update for teams in the playoffs and their season log but not in the regular season final standings though a footnote will indicate their playoff status.

SETUP #1

No. 1 Maroon/USciences (10-2) vs. No. 5 Electric Green (8-4), 7 P.M., Court 1

A year ago Maroon was the top seed and advanced to the championship, only to lose to White, which is in Tuesday’s other game, for the title.

The team has been consistent throughout after losing the season opener to White, though the only loss came in the next-to-the-last game to Royal Blue.

Having a night of extra rest by winning the quarterfinal through a forfeit will make it interesting to see whether that helps or hurts, considering how well Electric Green played Thursday.

Electric Green on the season won what it had to win and more, boosted by an upset of Forest Green. 

Different players have stepped but dominant most of the way was Saint Joseph’s senior Chelsea Woods, who prior to tweaking her knee several weeks ago, had hit the Guru’s nightly 20-or-more points a co-league high seven nights. 

The other player was Hawks senior classmate Amanda Fioravanti of White, who we made the MVP on the regular season and part of our 15-member all league team.

We announced it Thursday but the honorees are listed in the stat section below.

A separate list will be made for the playoffs.

A report last Thursday said Woods might be cleared Monday by doctors, in which case we can call her a game-time decision for now since we had not heard anything new.

When losing Woods, Hannah Fox got back to town just in time to make up for the loss, scoring 30 in her first game and 22 in Thursday’s win over Royal Blue.

Here’s Bob’s recap from the Electric Green/Maroon matchup on July 6.

Team Maroon 62, Team Electric Green 51

Team Maroon, also known as USciences easily handled Team Electric Green with a 62-51 victory to maintain a share of first place in the league standings while securing their fifth straight win. 

 

Maroon improves to 5-1 while Electric Green is 3-3.

 

The Maroon team again produced a balanced scoring effort and made good use of the long ball, making 11 three-point field goals on the night. 

 Senior Colleen Walsh led the victors with 13 points (three three-pointers) while incoming freshman Irisa Ye added 12 (two three-point FG).  

 Junior Alex Thomas also had two three-point field goals en route to 11 points while junior guard Alyx McKiernan nailed a trio of three-balls and finished with ten points.

 

St Joseph’s senior Jaryn Garner led all scorers in the game with 16 points while Samantha Stipa added 11.  Fellow St. Joe’s teammate Chelsea Woods added ten points.

 

Maroon proved how defense wins games, holding Electric Green without a field goal the entire second quarter while outscoring them 14-3 to take a 34-12 lead at half. 

 The game also marked the fourth time this season that Maroon, who has the best scoring defense average in the league, allowing 49.2 ppg., has held an opponent to 51 or fewer points.

Electric Green however did battle back using a 13-3 run to start the third quarter to close within 12, 37-25 with 4:41 left.  

This would be as close as they would come in the period as a Walsh three-ball put Maroon up by 18 late in the quarter 48-30 before Electric Green scored the final three points of the period to trail by 15.

 

Maroon maintained their double digit lead throughout the final quarter holding a very scrappy and tenacious Electric Green team at bay with the final score marking as close as they would come to the Maroon squad since early in the first quarter when they trailed 12-4.

ROSTERS AND SEASON RESULTS FOR MAROON AND ELECTRIC GREEN

TEAM MAROON (USciences)

5    ALYX McKIERNAN 5’4  -- IMMAC. HEART ACAD/USCIENCES ‘19

10  MARISSA SYLVESTER 5’8 -- NAZERETH ACAD/USCIENCES ‘19

12  COLLEEN WALSH 5’10 -- SHIPLEY SCHOOL/USCIENCES ‘18

13  HALEY HELMS 5’7 -- USCIENCES ‘18

14  MIKAELA GIULIANI 6’1 -- NORTH PENN/USCIENCES ‘20

15  SHANNON MAY 5’4  -- ARCH WOOD/USCIENCES ‘21

22  LAURA TRISCH 5’10 -- ARCH WOOD/USCIENCE’18

25  ALEX THOMAS 5’9   -- ST. ELIZ HS/USCIENCES ‘21

30  IRISA YE 5’9  -- NORTH PENN/USCIENCES ’21 

32  JESS HUBER 5’9  -- NORTH PENN/USCIENCES ‘21

TEAM ELECTRIC GREEN

12  CAILIN O’HARA 5’7 -- CENTRAL BUCKS/CENTENARY U ‘20

15  EMILY WALLS 5’8  -- BAYARD RUSTIN HS/MORAVIAN ‘19

20  HANNAH FOX 5’7 -- PENN CHARTER/AMHERST ‘20

22  JESSICA GERBER 5’4 -- COUNCIL ROCK N./KENYON ‘19

24  SARAH O’HARA 5’7  -- CENTRAL BUCKS/WILKES’18

25  SAMANTHA STIPA 5’6  -- SPRING-FORD/LAFAYETTE ‘18

30  MORGAN MATURANI 6’  -- REED/HENDERSON/SALISBURY ‘19

31  JARYN GARNER 5’9  -- GERMANTOWN ACAD/SAINT JOS. ‘18

32  CHELSEA WOODS 5’11 -- FREIRE CHARTER/SAINT JOS. ‘18

34  RACHEL RYAN 6’   -- ACAD NOTRE DAME/SALISBURY ‘20

40  CARLEY HAMILTON 6’2 -- MARPLE NEWTOWN/MUHLENBERG ‘19

SEASON’S RESULTS THRU PLAYOFFS

TEAM MAROON (USciences) (10-2) (Regular Season Co-Champion)

June 15: vs. White L: 50-56

June 20: vs. Red (Chestnut Hill) W: 42-33

June 22: vs. Purple (Delaware Valley) W: 80-36

June 27: vs. Black (Jefferson U.) W: 74-50

June 29: vs. Forest Green (West Chester) W: 73-69 (2OT)

July 4: No Games (Holiday)

July 6: vs. Electric Green W: 62-51

July 11: vs. Sky Blue W: 65-46

July 13: vs. Pink (PSU-Abington) W: 83-35

July 18: vs. Orange (Holy Family) W: 91-55

July 20: vs. Royal Blue (Kutztown) L: 54-57

July 25: vs. Sun (Ursinus) W: 68-54

July 27: vs. Orange (Holy Family), W: 2-0, forfeit, Playoff Quarterfinals

August 1: vs. Electric Green, Playoff Semifinals, 7 P.M., Court 1

TEAM ELECTRIC GREEN (8-4)

June 15: vs. Royal Blue (Kutztown) L: 47-56

June 20: vs. Sun (Ursinus) L: 46-73

June 22: vs. Black (Jefferson U.) W: 59-57

June 27: vs. Red (Chestnut Hill) W: 77-63

June 29: vs. Purple (Delaware Valley) W: 74-55

July 4: No Game (Holiday)

July 6: vs. Maroon (USciences) L: 51-62

July 11: vs. Forest Green (West Chester) W: 68-60

July 13: vs. Sky Blue W: 81-66

July 18: vs. White L: 52-58

July 20: vs. Pink (PSU-Abington) W: 95-47

July 25: vs. Orange (Holy Family) W: 73-58

July 27: vs. Royal Blue (Kutztown) W: 72-64, Playoff Quarterfinals

August 1: vs. Maroon, Playoff Semifinals, 7 P.M., Court 1

SETUP #2

No. 2 Forest Green/West Chester (10-2) vs. No. 3 White (9-3), 8:15 P.M., Court 1

This has all the makings of a barn-burner as well as a motivational revenge factor on the side of White.

Early in the summer, in the second night of the season, Forest Green upset White, overcoming a 13-point deficit in the third quarter and sending the defending champs on what became a three-game losing streak before reversing direction with seven straight the other way for third seed and then a playoff victory Thursday over Black/Jefferson U. (Formerly Philadelphia U.).

After the upset Forest Green nearly rolled to a No. 1 seed, but the double overtime loss to Maroon was the tiebreak that dropped them to No. 2, though they could have overcome that had they not been taken down in their other loss by Electric Green 68-60 on July 11th. 

But back to the present, the West Chester group had little problems in the quarterfinal by beating seventh-seeded Sky Blue to get to Thursday’s showdown. This is a game that can go either way, though, as mentioned, the same is true for the opener previously reviewed.

So let’s go with Bob’s recap from June 20th and then the rest of the data.

Forest Green 57, White 51

Team Forest Green (West Chester University) trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter before rallying towards the end of the period and intro the final quarter to take home a 57-51 win over Team White to improve to 2-0 on the season.  

Mia Hopkins, fueled by four 3-pointers and also shooting 4-for-4 from the line, led Forest Green with 20 points and Katie Feehery, a Scranton senior out of Cardinal O’Hara, scored 10.

Amanda Fiorvanti, as mentioned, scored 20 to pace White, and Nia Holland, a Lafayette junior out of the Shipley School, scored 10 points. 

 

Fiorvanti’s layup two minutes into the third quarter gave Team White a 34-21 lead.  

Forest Green then ran off eight straight points, capped by Katie Fisher’s putback to close the gap to five at 34-39 at the six minute mark.  

Four minutes later White was back up by double digits, leading by ten 44-34 when the Forest Green team began their comeback, scoring the final five points of the third quarter and opening the fourth with a 8-2 flourish to take their first lead since the opening minute of the second quarter, 47-46 with Hopkins scoring the go-ahead bucket.  

Katie Feehery (10 points) followed with a short jumper and Hopkins added a three-pointer to complete a 13-2 run and give Forest Green their biggest lead of the night at 52-46. 

 Fiorvanti followed with a traditional three-point play and added two more free throws on the White team’s next possession to cut her team’s deficit to one 52-51 with 4:21 remaining.  

Forest Green held white scoreless the rest of the way while putting five more points on the board to seal the victory.  Nia Holland joined Fiorvanti in reaching double figure scoring for the White team with ten points.

ROSTERS AND SEASON RESULTS FOR FOREST GREEN AND WHITE

TEAM FOREST GREEN (West Chester)

2   BRIDGET SCOTT 5’11  -- STRATH HAVEN/SWARTHMORE ’18 

4   GABRIELLE NOLAN 5’7 -- ABINGTON/WEST CHESTER U. ‘19

11 JEAN WILLIAMS 5’2 -- MASTERY NORTH/WM. PENN U. ‘19

12 KATIE FISHER 5’8  -- STRATH HAVEN/WCU ‘20

13 GABBY TROISI 5’7  -- POPE JOHN PAUL II/WCU ‘20

24 RYLEE POWER 5’8 -- MARPLE NEWTOWN/WCU ‘19

25 KATIE FEEHERY 6’1  -- CARD. O’HARA/U. SCRANTON ‘18

32 SIANI McNEIL 5’11  -- DELCO CHRISTIAN/WCU ‘20

33 CASEY WARLEY 5’11 -- BAYARD RUSTIN/WCU’19

34 MIA HOPKINS 5’10 -- PITTSTON AREA HS/WCU ‘18

35 JENNIFER HORVATINOVIC 5’11 -- RED LION HS/U. TAMPA ‘17

TEAM WHITE

 1   SHIRA NEWMAN 5’7 --  UPPER DUBLIN/MILLERSVILLE ‘13

 3   TUGA GOFF 5’4 --  UPPER DUBLIN/ROSEMONT

 5   STEPHANIE PETERY 5’9  -- POPE JOHN PAUL II/MERCYHURST ‘20

12 NIA HOLLAND 5’7 -- SHIPLEY SCHOOL/LAFAYETTE ‘19 

14 ASHLEY WOOD 5’6  --- SPRING-FORD/KUTZTOWN ‘13 

15 JASMINE ELUM 5’6 -- BODINE/BETHUNE-COOKMAN ‘12 

24  CAROLINE DePILLIS 5’7 -- HARRITON/LOYOLA MARYMOUNT ‘21 

30  MARY SHEEHAN 5’11  -- CARDINAL O’HARA/SAINT JOS. ‘21 

34  AMANDA FIORAVANTI 6’1  -- OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL/SAINT JOS. ‘17 

40 MICHELE McCAUGHERN 5’11  -- WEST CHESTER EAST/LaSALLE ‘12 

43  BRIANA WINSTON 5’10 -- HARRITON/KEAN COLLEGE ‘21 

SEASON RESULTS

TEAM FOREST GREEN (West Chester) (10-2) (Regular Season Co-Champion)

June 15: vs. Sky Blue W: 74-59

June 20: vs. White W: 57-51

June 22: vs. Red (Chestnut Hill) W: 55-52

June 27: vs. Orange (Holy Family) W: 61-48

June 29: vs. Maroon (USciences) L: 69-73 (2OT)

July 4 : No Games (Holiday)

July 6: vs. Sun (Ursinus) W: 70-60

July 11: vs. Electric Green L: 60-68

July 13: vs. Purple (Delaware Valley) W: 77-66

July 18: vs. Pink (PSU-Abington) W: 75-42

July 20: vs. Black (Jefferson U.) W: 70-69

July 25: vs. Royal Blue (Kutztown) W: Forest Green W: 73-58

July 27: vs. Sky Blue W: 76-63, Playoff Quarterfinals

August 1: vs. White, Playoff Semifinals, 8:15 p.m., Court 1

TEAM WHITE (9-3)

June 15: vs. Maroon (USciences) W: 56-50

June 20: vs. Forest Green (West Chester) L: 51-57

June 22: vs. Royal Blue (Kutztown) L: 64-65

June 27: vs. Sky Blue L: 70-77

June 29: vs. Black (Jefferson U.) W: 61-45

July 4: No Games (Holiday)

July 6: vs. Pink (PSU-Abington) W: 68-47

July 11: vs. Orange (Holy Family) W: 71-47

July 13: vs. Sun (Ursinus) W: 70-56

July 18: vs. Electric Green W: 58-52

July 20: vs. Red (Chestnut Hill) W: 65-53

July 25: vs. Purple (Delaware Valley) W: 75-54

July 27: vs. Black (Jefferson U.) W: 76-56, Playoff Quarterfinals

August 1: vs. Forest Green, Playoff Semifinals, 8:15 P.M., Court 1

Final Regular Season Standings

Team,  W-L, Pct., G.B., PF, PA

$=+ Maroon, 9-2, .818, -- ,  742 542

$=+ Forest Green, 9-2, .818, -- , 741 646

$= White, 8-3, .727, 1.0,  709 603

$-&^%-Royal Blue, 7-4, .636, 2.0 , 591 538

$= Electric Green, 7-4, .636, 2.0, 728 654

$-Black, 7-4, .636, 2.0, 721 603

S-@-Sky Blue, 5-6, .455, 4.0, 650 667

$-!-Orange, 5-6, .455, 4.0 ,  617 659

X-^*-Sun, 5-6, .455, 4.0 615 596

X-!%-Red, 2-9, .182, 7.0, 505 580

X-Pink, 1-10, .091, 8.0, 517 830

X-@-Purple, 1-10, .091, 8.0 492 708

@-Includes forfeit wins of Sky Blue over Orange and Purple over Red.

!-Does include Orange forfeit loss to Sky Blue and Red forfeit loss to Purple.

^-Does include Royal Blue forfeit 2-0 loss to Sun.

*-Includes Sun 2-0 forfeit win over Royal Blue.

%-Does include Red forfeit loss to Royal Blue.

&-Includes Royal Blue forfeit win over Red.

$-Clinched playoffs

X-Eliminated from playoffs

+-Regular Season Co-Champion (Maroon top seed thru head-to-head tiebreaker)

=-Semifinalsts

PLAYOFF RESULTS AND SCHEDULE

Thursday, July 27

Quarterfinals

1-Maroon 2, 8-Orange 0, forfeit

5-Electric Green 72, Royal Blue 64

2-Forest Green 76, Sky Blue 63

3-White 76, Black 56

Tuesday, August 1

Semifinals

7 p.m.

1-Maroon (10-2) vs. 5-Electric Green (8-4), Court 1

8:15 p.m.

2-Forest Green (10-2) vs. 3-White (9-3), Court 1

Thursday, August 3

Championship

7 p.m.

Either Maroon or Electric Green vs. Forest Green or White, Court 1

Womhoops Guru All-Philly WBB Summer League Team

(Regular Season)

(Listing in no particular order with MVP also named)

*-Amanda Fiorvanti             White

Jess Huber                          Maroon

Colleen Walsh                   Maroon

Chelsea Woods                 Electric Green

Mia Hopkins                       Forest Green

Jenny Horvatinovic           Forest Green

Erin Lindahl                        Sky Blue

Caitlyn Cunningham         Black

Michaela Clay                    Royal Blue

Sierra Taylor                      Royal Blue

Alex Thomas                      Maroon

Nia Holland                        White

Alynna Williams                Black

Liz Radley                           Orange

Shayna Rodriguez             Pink

*-MVP, regular season

Individual Scoring 15 Or More Points in the Postseason

22-Hannah Fox, Electric Green, W, vs. Royal Blue, Quarterfinals, July 27

20-Jaryn Garner, Electric Green, W, vs. Royal Blue, Quarterfinals, July 27

20-Michaela Clay, Royal Blue, L, vs. Electric Green, Quarterfinals, July 27

19-Whisper Fisher, Sky Blue, L, vs. Forest Green, Quarterfinals, July 27

19- Mary Sheehan, White, W, vs. Black, Quarterfinals, July 27

18-Alynna Williams, Black, L, vs. White, Quarterfinals, July 27

17-Briana Winston, White, W, vs. Black, Quarterfinals, July 27

16-Jen Horvatinovic, Forest Green, W, vs. Sky Blue, Quarterfinals, July 27

16-Katie Jekot, Sky Blue, L, vs. Forest Green, Quarterfinals, July 27

15-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. Sky Blue, Quarterfinals, July 27

Individual Scoring 20 Or More Points

41-Amanda Fioravanti, White, L, vs. Sky Blue, June 27

33-Kristen Daley, Sun, L, vs. Orange, July 20

33-Jess Huber, Maroon, W-2OT, vs. Forest Green, June 29

31-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, W, vs. Sky Blue, July 13

30-Hannah Fox, Electric Green, W, vs. Pink, July 20

30-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, W, vs. Red, June 27

29- Liz Radley, Orange, W, vs. Sun, July 20

28-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, W, vs. Forest Green, July 11

27-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, L, vs. White, July 18

27-Amanda Fioravanti, White, L, vs. Royal Blue, June 22

27-Kendall Grasella, Sky Blue, L, vs. Forest Green, June 15

26-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. Black, July 20

26-Katie Jekot, Sky Blue, L, vs. Black, July 18

26-Amanda Fioravanti, White, W, vs. Black, June 29

26-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, W, vs. Black, June 22

25-Erin Lindahl, Sky Blue, W, vs. Pink, July 25 

25-Caitlyn Cunningham, Black, W, vs. Sky Blue, July 18

25-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, L, vs. Royal Blue, June 15

24-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. Royal Blue, July 25

24-Shayna Rodriguez, Pink, L, vs. Sky Blue, July 25

24-Beverly Kum, Black, W, vs. Orange, July 13

23-Lydia Konstanzer, Sun, W, vs. Purple, June 27

23-Chelsea Woods, Electric Green, L, vs. Sun, June 20

23-Kendall Grasella, Sky Blue, L, vs. Royal Blue, June 20

22-Kristen Daley, Sun, W, vs. Red, July 18

22-Amanda Fioravanti, White, W, vs. Sun, July 13

22-Irisa Ye, Maroon, W, vs. Pink, July 13

22-Sierra Taylor, Royal Blue, L, vs. Black, July 6

21-Anjeliah Hayes, Orange, L, vs. Electric Green, July 25

21-Kristen Daley, Sun, L, vs. Maroon, July 25

21-Ashley Smink, Purple, L, vs. White, July 6

21-Caitlyn Cunningham, Black, W, vs. Pink, June 20

21-Jada Smith, Orange, W, vs. Purple, June 20

21-Amanda Fioravanti, White, W, vs. Maroon, June 15

20-Amanda Fioravanti, White, W, vs. Purple, July 25

20-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. Pink, July 18

20-Meghan Pickell, Orange, L, vs. Maroon, July 18

20-Kendall Grasella, Sky Blue L, vs. Maroon, July 11

20-Vicky Tumasz, Red, W, vs. Sky Blue, June 29

20-Katie O’Hare, Orange, W, vs. Royal Blue, June 29

20-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. Orange, June 27

20-Alynna Williams, Black, L, vs. Royal Blue, June 22

20-Mia Hopkins, Forest Green, W, vs. White, June 20

20-Beverly Kum, Black, W, vs. Pink, June 20

20-Amanda Fioravanti, White, L, vs. Forest Green, June 20