The Guru’s Philly Summer League Report: Unbeaten BlackStar/Jefferson and Aquatic/Holy Family Head to Wednesday Showdown

 By Bob Heller and Mel Greenberg womhoopsgurux

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – Back on the main court Tuesday night at Plymouth Whitemarsh for the rest of the way after last week’s temporary move to the rear gym the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Basketball Summer League offered a season-high five players scoring 20 or more points.

 And with BlackStar (D2-Jefferson) and Aquatic (D2-Holy Family) still unbeaten, the latter a half-game off due to serving its bye in the nine-team league, the first showdown between the two powerful rivals in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Southern Division in the winter meet Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. on Court 1.

The night’s top performer was Grace McShane making four 3-pointers on the way to 26 points as Citrine Orange (2-2) got to .500 with an 80-71 win over Royal Crown (D3-Immaculata) still seeking its first win in four games.

Citrine Orange has a roster dominated by Ursinus alums and Rowan undergrads.

The Mighty Macs also had a player make the scoring honor roll, Emma Wagner with 20 points propelled by three from deep and a perfect 2-2 from the line.

Kara Meredith scored 24 highlighted by four makes from distance leading Aquatic (3-0) to a 75-44 win over Sunburst (D3-Ursinus), which fell to 1-2 while BlackStar’s Emily Spratt scored 21 in an 83-68 win over Purple Haze (D2-West Chester), which dropped to 1-3.

That’s the same record for Jade (D3-Arcadia), which got 20 from Taylor Koenig in a narrow 60-57 loss to Electric Green (D3-Gwynedd Mercy).

Wednesday’s other games at 6:30 p.m. on Court 2 has Electric Pink, a combo of D2-Goldey-Beacom and D3-Scranton, coming off its bye facing Royal Crown while at 7:45 p.m. Electric Green meets Sunburst on Court 1 and Jade plays Purple Haze on Court 2.

Though not everyone has played the same number of games due to the byes, this edition’s standings are in proper order for the nost.

BlackStar is up a half-game on Aquatic heading into Wednesday’s showdown followed by Electric Pink and Electric Green tied but EP holding a head-to-head tiebreak ahead of Citrine Orange (2-2) and Sunburst (1-2).

Jade and Purple Haze are next with the deadlock unable to be broken since both team’s sole wins are over Citrine Orange.

But that will settle on Wednesday’s head-to-head while Royal Crown holds last place.

Now here’s Bob with the details from Tuesday followed by the scoreboard.

Recaps

Electric Green 60  Jade 57

Electric Green (Gwynedd mercy University +) held off a late run from Jade (Arcadia University +) to pull out a 60-57 win in the early game on Court One.

Layla Verbit led Green with 16 points while Emma O’Hare (Desales University) chipped in 14.

Kailyn Bell added 11.

  Taylor Koenig from Jade led all scorers with 20 points and was the only player from her team in double figures. Jocelyn Goldstein (Johns Hopkins) had eight points.

The game was deadlocked at 44-44 after three quarters and the lead changed hands twice in the early part of the fourth quarter with the score later knotted up again at 49-49.

 Green followed with an 11-4 run to take a 60-53 lead in the final 45 seconds.

 A basket from Koenig followed by a steal and a basket from Madelyn Weaver quickly shaved four points off the lead.

Jade then trapped the ball on the far sideline forcing Green to take a timeout with 25 seconds left.

After the timeout, Green was able to inbound the ball but defensive pressure from Jade forced another turnover giving the Jade squad a chance to tie the game in the final seconds.

The Jade offense worked the ball around for one final shot.

  However that shot never came as a pass was tipped by a Green player and resulted in a turnover as time expired, handing Green the three-point win.

Jade led 10-8 after the opening quarter as five different players scored.

 Verbit scored eight points in the second quarter as Green edged ahead 27-21 by halftime only to see Jade battle back in the third quarter where Koenig scored ten points as Jade rallied to tie the game heading into the final period.

Citrine Orange 80  Royal Crown 71

Citrine Orange (Ursinus College Alums/Rowan University+) exploded for 30 points in the fourth quarter overcoming a seven-point deficit as they pulled away to defeat Royal Crown (Immaculata University +), 80-71 in the early game on court two.

Grace McShane, an incoming Rowan freshman out of Bensalem High school, scored a game high 26 points to lead four Orange players in double figures.

 Natalie Mehl (Ursinus ’24) added 13, while Jules Tropea (Rowan) and Gabby Tropea (Rowan) chipped in 13 and ten points, respectively.

Emma Wagner led Royal with 20 points while Abby Grillo chipped in 19.  Fiona Reckner (Franklin and Marshall) and Keira Benoit scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

McShane and the Tropea sisters had six points apiece in the opening quarter as Orange jumped out to an early 23-18 lead heading into the second quarter.  Wagner had nine points for Royal in the second quarter as they rallied to take a 39-37 lead at halftime.

The two teams exchanged the lead three times in the third quarter before Royal started to open up their lead.

Wagner sank a three-point basket, her only points of the period, as time was running out in the quarter to push Royal’s lead to 57-50 heading into the fourth quarter.

McShane and Mehl led the fourth quarter charge combining for 18 points as Orange outscored Royal 30-14 in the final period.

  The team sank a total of six three-point baskets in the period with McShane and Mehl making two apiece and Lily Bross (Rowan) and Jules Tropea each making one as Orange earned their second win of the season.

BlackStar 83  Purple Haze 68

Blackstar (Jefferson University +) used a dominant fourth quarter to pull away from Purple Haze (West Chester University +) and remain undefeated on the season with an 83-68 win.

Emily Spratt led all scorers with 21 points. 

The Georgian Court University duo of Morgan Sconza and Karissa Smedley added 13 and 10 points respectively to round out Blackstar’s double figure scorers.

Purple Haze was led by Anna McTamney and Daniella MacDonald (Wheaton University), who scored 12 points apiece. Lena Stein added 11 points.

The first two quarter saw a total of seven lead changes as Black held a three-point lead 24-21 after one quarter and Purple came back to lead by the slimmest of margins, one point 43-42 at halftime.

Purple opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run to lead 52-44 before Sconza broke the run with a three-point basket. The basket sparked seven straight Black points to pull within one 52-51 with Black extending the scoring run to 15-5 by the end of the period to lead 59-57 heading into the final quarter.

Black opened the final quarter with a 14-4 run to lead 73-61 with six minutes to go.

 The undefeated BlackStar team outscored Purple Haze 24-11 in the final period with Spratt and Cassidy Kravesi (nine points) scoring six points apiece in the period as BlackStar earned their fourth win of the season to remain in first place.

Blackstar will face the league’s other undefeated team, Aquatic Blue in one of the early games Wednesday night.

Aquatic Blue 75  Sunburst 44

 The late game on Court Two produced the largest margin of victory on the evening as Aquatic Blue (Holy Family University +) remained undefeated with a 75-44 win over Sunburst (Ursinus College)

Three players scored in double figures for aquatic, led by Kara Meredith’s 24 points. Ella Brown and Amy Ngo chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively. Delaney McCaffrey was the lone Sunburst player in double figures with 15 points. 

Aquatic limited Sunburst to just one field goal (a McCaffrey three-point basket) in the fourth quarter as they outscored their opponent 17-3 in period. Meredith had seven points in quarter.

The game was actually close for the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter before Blue, who had a 16-13 lead after the first ten minutes, started to open the margin in the latter part of the second quarter taking a 44-35 lead at halftime.

 Ngo had ten second quarter points while Meredith added eight.

Aquatic used a 14-6 run in the third quarter to expand the lead to 58-41 heading into the final quarter.

 Meredith and Jessica Massey (Saginaw Valley State University) scored five points apiece in the period with Brown and Lola Lbarrondo each contributing a basket.

Standings (Thru Tues, June 30)

Team         W   L   Pct. GB    PF   PA

BlackStar        4  0  1.000 —   322 209

Aquatic           3   0  1.000  0.5 208 116

Electric Pink  2  1   .667 1.5    207 232

Electric Green 2 1 .667 1.5  115 145

Citrine Orange 2 2 .500 2.0 248 321

Sunburst          1  2  .333 2.5 165 201

Jade                     1 3  .250 3.0  245 267

Purple Haze   1  3  .250  3.0   187 166

Royal Crown     0  4 .000  4.0  202 291

 

Individual Scoring 20+ Points

36-Taylor Koenig, Jade (W) vs. Citrine Orange, June 17

26-Grace McShane, Citrine Orange (W) vs. Royal Crown, June 30

25-Grace McShane, Citrine Orange (W) vs. Sunburst, June 23

24-Jocelyn Goldstein, Jade (W) vs. Cintrine Orange, June 17

24-Kara Meredith, Aquatic (W) vs. Sunburst, June 30

21-Emily Spratt, BlackStar (W) vs. Purple Haze, June 30

21-Bridget Malloy, Electric Pink (W) vs. Electric Green, June 16

20-Taylor Koenig, Jade (L) vs. Electric Green, June 30

20-Emma Wagner, Royal Crown (L) vs. Citrine Orange, June 30

20-Abby Arnold, Jade (L) vs. Electric Pink, June 24

20-Gabrielle Recinto, BlackStar (W) vs. Electric Pink, June 17

 

Results and Schedule

Tuesday, June 30

Electric Green 60, Jade 57

Citrine Orange 80, Royal Crown 71

BlackStar 83, Purple Haze 68

Aquatic 75, Sunburst 44

Bye: Electric Pink

 

Wednesday, July 1

6:30 p.m.

BlackStar (4-0) vs. Aquatic (3-0), Court 1

Electric Pink (2-1) vs. Royal Crown (0-4), Court 2

7:45 p.m.

Electric Green (2-1) vs. Sunburst (1-2), Court 1

Jade (1-3) vs. Purple Haze (1-3), Court 2

Bye: Citrine Orange

 

Wednesday, June 24 (Games J23 & J24 Rear Bldg)

Electric Green 2, Purple Haze 0, forfeit

Electric Pink 72, Jade 49

Bye: Aquatic (2-0)

 

Tuesday, June 23

Citrine Orange 81, Sunburst 72

BlackStar 84, Royal Crown 47

 

Wednesday, June 17

BlackStar 80, Electric Pink 47

Aquatic 55, Purple Haze 33

Jade 92, Citrine Orange 60

Sunburst 49, Royal Crown 45

Bye: Electric Green

Tuesday, June 16

Aquatic 88, Royal Crown 53

Purple Haze 86, Citrine Orange 27

BlackStar 75, Jade 47

Electric Pink 88, Electric Green 53

Bye:  Sunburst

 

Tuesday, July 7

6:30 p.m.

Purple Haze vs. Electric Pink, Court 1

Sunburst vs. BlackStar, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

Royal Crown vs. Electric Green, Court 1

Aquatic vs. Citrine Orange, Court 2

Bye: Jade

 

Wednesday, July 8

6:30 p.m.

Electric Green vs. Citrine Orange, Court 1

Jade vs. Sunburst, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

Electric Pink vs. Aquatic, Court 1

Purple Haze vs. Royal Crown, Court 2

Bye: BlackStar

 

Tuesday, July 14

6:30 p.m.

Royal Crown vs. Jade, Court 1

Aquatic vs. Electric Green, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

Sunburst vs. Electric Pink

Citrine Orange vs. Blackstar, Court 2

Bye: Purple Haze

 

Regular Season Ends

 

Wednesday, July 15

6:30 p.m.

Sunburst vs. Purple Haze, Court 1

Citrine Orange vs. Electric Pink, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

Aquatic vs. Jade, Court 1

BlackStar vs. Electric Green, Court 2

Bye: Royal Crown

 

Playoffs

Tuesday, July 21

Play-in

6:30 p.m.

8 seed vs. 9 seed, Court 1

 

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, July 22

6:30 p.m.

1 seed vs. 8-9 winner, Court 1

6 seed vs. 3 seed, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

7 seed vs. 2 seed, Court 1

5 seed vs. 4 seed, Court 2

 

Semifinals

Tuesday, July 28

Court 1

6:30 p.m.

Highest Seed Survivor vs. Lowest Seed Survivor

7:45 p.m.

Remaining Survivors Meet

 

Championship

Wednesday, July 29

 

Team by Team Schedules and Results

 

Aquatic (D2-Holy Family +) 3-0

June 16 (W) 78-39 vs. Royal Crown (D3-Immaculata)

June 17 (W) 55-33 vs. Purple Haze (D2-West Chester)

June 23 Bye

June 30 (W) 75-44 vs. Sunburst (D3-Ursinus)

July 1 vs. BlackStar (D2-Jefferson), 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 7 vs. Citrine Orange (D3 Rowan + Ursinus Alums), 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 8 vs. Electric Pink (D2-Goldey-Beacom), 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 14 vs. Electric Green (D3-Gwynedd Mercy), 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 15 vs. Jade (D3-Arcadia), 7:45 p.m., Court 1

 

BlackStar (D2-Jefferson+), 4-0

June 16 (W) 75-47 vs. Jade

June 17 (W) 80-47 vs. Electric Pink

June 23 (W) 84-47 vs. Royal Crown

June 30 (W) 83-68 vs. Purple Haze

July 1 vs. Aquatic, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 7 vs. Sunburst, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 8 Bye

July 14 vs. Citrine Orange, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 15 vs. Electric Green, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

 

Citrine Orange (D3-Rowan Undergrads + Ursinus Alums), 2-2

June 16 (L) 27-86 vs. Purple Haze

June 17 (L) 60-92 vs. Jade

June 23 (W) 81-72 vs. Sunburst

June 30 (W) 80-71 vs. Royal Crown

July 1 Bye

July 7 vs. Aquatic, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 8 vs. Electric Green, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 14 vs. BlackStar, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 15 vs. Electric Pink, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

 

Electric Green (D3-Gwynedd Mercy +) 2-1

June 16 (L) 53-88 vs. Electric Pink

June 17 Bye

June 24 (W) 2-0 vs. Purple Haze, forfeit

June 30 (W) 60-57 vs. Jade, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 1 vs. Sunburst, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 7 vs. Royal Crown, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 8 vs. Citrine Orange, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 14 vs. Aquatic, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 15 vs. BlackStar, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

 

Electric Pink (D2-Goldey-Beacom +) 2-1

June 16 (W) 88-53 vs. Electric Green

June 17 (L) 47-80 vs. BlackStar

June 24 (W) 72-49 vs. Jade

June 30 Bye

July 1 vs. Royal Crown, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 7 vs. Purple Haze, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 8 vs. Aquatic, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 14 vs. Sunburst, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 15 vs. Citrine Orange, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

 

Jade (D3-Arcadia +) 1-3

June 16 (L) 47-75 vs. BlackStar

June 17 (W) 92-60 vs. Citrine Orange

June 24 (L) 49-72 vs. Electric Pink

June 30 (L) 57-60 vs. Electric Green

July 1 vs. Purple Haze, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 7 Bye

July 8 vs. Sunburst, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 14 vs. Royal Crown, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 15 vs. Aquatic, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

 

Purple Haze (D2-West Chester +) 1-3

June 16 (W) 86-27 vs. Citrine Orange

June 17 (L) 33-55 vs. Aquatic

June 24 (L) 0-2, forfeit vs. Electric Green

June 30 (L) 6-8 vs. BlackStar

July 1 vs. Jade, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 7 vs. Electric Pink, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 8 vs. Royal Crown, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 14 Bye

July 15 vs. Sunburst, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

 

Royal Crown (D3-Immaculata +) 0-4

June 16 (L) 39-78 vs. Aquatic

June 17 (L) 45-49 va. Sunburst

June 23 (L) 47-84 vs. BlackStar

June 30 (L) 71-80 vs. Citrine Orange

July 1 vs. Electric Pink, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 7 vs. Electric Green, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 8 vs. Purple Haze, 7:45 p.m., Court 2

July 14 vs. Jade, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

July 15 Bye

 

Sunburst (D3-Ursinus +) 1-2

June 16 Bye

June 17 (W) 49-45 vs. Royal Crown

June 23 (L) 72-81 vs. Citrine Orange

June 30 (L) 44-75 vs. Aquatic

July 1 vs. Electric Green, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 7 vs. BlackStar, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 8 vs. Jade, 6:30 p.m., Court 2

July 14 vs. Electric Pink, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 15 vs. Purple Haze, 6:30 p.m., Court 1

 

Seed Tracker (Alphabetical for Now)

 

Codes – AQ-Aquatic; BS-BlackStar; CO-Citrine Orange; EG-Electric Green; EP-Electric Pink; JA-Jade; PH-Purple Haze; RC-Royal Crown; SU-Sunburst

F-Outcome Thru Forfeit

 

BS 4-0 W-JA; W-EP; W-RC; W-PH; vs. AQ; vs. SU; Bye; vs; CO; vs. EG

AQ 3-0 W-RC; W-PU; Bye; W-SU; vs. BS; vs. CO; vs. EP; vs. EG; vs. JA

EP 2-1 W-EG; L-BS; W-JA; Bye; vs. RC; vs. PH; vs. AQ; vs. SU; vs. CO

EG 2-1 L-EP; Bye; WF- PH; W-JA; vs. SU; vs. RC; vs. CO; vs. AQ; vs. BS

CO 2-2 L-PH; L-JA; W-SU; W-RC; Bye; vs. AQ; vs. EG; vs. BS; vs. EP

SU 1-2 Bye; W-RC; L-CO; L- AQ; vs. EG; vs. BS; vs. JA; vs. EP; vs. PH

JA 1-3 L-BS; W-CO; vs. L-EP; L-EG; vs. PH; Bye; vs. SU; vs. RC; vs. AQ

PH 1-3 W-CO; L-AQ; vs. LF-EG; L-BS; vs. JA; vs. EP; vs. RC; Bye; vs. SU

RC 0-4 L-AQ; L-SU; L-BS; L-CO; vs. EP; vs. EG; vs PH; vs. JA; Bye