The Guru’s Philly Summer League Report: Unbeaten Aquatic/D2-Holy Family and BlackStar/D2-Jefferson Finish 1-2 Heading to Next Week’s Playoffs

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – Who would believe at the time that the first week of the season in mid-June involving head-to-head competition would settle three tiebreakers in the final standings of the Philadelphia/Suburban Women Basketball League moving into the start of playoffs on Tuesday in an 8-Sunburst (D3-Ursinus) vs. 9- Royal Crown (D3-Immaculata) first-round play-in game to the quarterfinals next Wednesday.

The two teams tied at 1-7, Sunburst falling into the bottom deadlock off of Wednesday’s 69-42 loss to Purple Haze (D2-West Chester), which earned third place at 5-3, breaking out of Tuesday’s three-way tie in the nine-team league.

Sunburst gets the higher designation off a 49-45 win over Royal Crown on the second night of the season, though Sunburst would have still had the eighth seed had it tied with Citrine Orange (D3-Rowan and Usinus alums).

Both teams were new this season and the Immaculata finish is a bit of a misread because in other years when the bottom team was winless or just won once, many outcomes were by wide differentials, especially when crossing over to play teams of a higher NCAA classification.

In the case of the Mighty Macs, they had a bunch of setbacks by one point before winning their only game, and three others by four, eight, and nine points, respectively. The other three others were routs but came against D2 competition.

To take care of the business of the final night, Aquatic (D2-Holy Family) finished unbeaten at the top with a 75-46 win over Jade (D2-Arcadia), with Jocelyn Goldstein, whose mom played at Drexel under her maiden name, in the night’s second-best overall performance, scored 22 points against the No. 1 team, which got 18 points from Lola Ibarrondo scoring 18, Ella Brown collected 12 points, and Avery Kocur and Camryn Gregory each scoring 10.

BlackStar (D2-Jefferson) had lost only to its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference winter rival and had clinched the second seed Tuesday but still needed the night’s overall top performance, coming from Emily Spratt with 23, to avoid an upset with a narrow 49-44 win over Electric Green (D3 Gwynedd Mercy), causing longtime league commissioner David Kessler to quip, “It looks like they didn’t cover.”

Caleigh Sperling add 10 points for the winners with six others collecting points.

Green’s Gabrielle Bowes had 15 points, while Keara McCaffrey scored 12.

In Purple’s win, Anna McTamney scored 12 points, Daniella MacDonald propelled by three makes from deep, scored 11, while teammate Bryanna Hicks matched her total, and Lena Stein had 10 points.

No one was in double figures for Sunburst, led by Caroline Foley with eight points, Olivia Nardi with seven points, and seven others scoring but not enough to sustain a winning outcome.

The other game on the scheduled resulted in a 2-0 forfeit loss by Electric Pink (Goldey-Beacom), the season’s second, one of the lower number, in recent seasons, to Citrine Orange.

Oddly neither Electric Pink nor Purple Haze were hurt by their two forfeit setbacks due to lack of eligible players.

Pink and Green finished at 4-4 in the four/five slot, setting a quarterfinal match, Pink with a head-to-head 88-53 win on opening night on June 16 earning the higher seed.

Jade and Citrine Orange were tied at 6th at 3-5 but Jade’s 92-60 head-to-head win on June 17 gained the sixth seed.

Besides several teams that came looking for membership when another area summer league had closed the move venue was new after years at Kelly Bolish Gym, home of the AAU Raiders in Hatboro, which had become unavailable.

PW longtime girls coach Dan Dougherty stepped up when Kessler was seeking a new home over the winter and has been on the scene each night running the snack bar to support his program.

Setting the Playoffs

As mentioned, the play-in opener is at 6:30 p.m. on Curt 1, a single game on the night, Sunburst playing Royal Crown and owning a narrow 49-45 win.

Aquatic will play in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, a 1 vs. 8-9 winner matchup at 6:30 p.m. on Court 1 while at the same time on Court 2 Purple Haze in a 3-6 game meets Jade.

In the 7:45 p.m. games on Court 1, BlackStar meets Citrine Orange, in a 2-7 contest, while Electric Pink and Electric Green who were tied play the 4-5 game on Court 2.

We’ll have a preview by Tuesday morning on this blog, repeating the rosters for each game, from the list posted going into the season.

The semifinals are Tuesday, July 28 at 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. on Court 1 with a re-seed if necessary, the highest surviving seed playing the lowest, following by the other two survivors.

Those two winners will play for the championship at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, and Ari Bluestein has given an indication he’s likely to have his Sports Fan-Based Network likely to stream the event as it has done the last several seasons.

A link will be provided in advance of the championship.

Bob Heller is still away on the West Coast through next week, though Andrew Robinson from City of Basketball Love has helped with detail.

Here’s your scoreboard setting standings, the top performers throughout the season, all the results and playoff schedule, and each team’s individual set of results, and the seed tracker enabling to quickly break ties, which unlike many previous seasons, was quite simple this time around.

Standings (Final Thru Wednesday, July 15)

Team         W   L   Pct. GB    PF   PA

*-Aquatic      8   0  1.000  — 581 367

BlackStar       7  1  .875  1.0   613 410

Purple Haze   5 3  .625  3.0   407 374

Electric Pink  4  4  .500 4.0    423 424

Electric Green 4 4 .500 4.0  366 394

Jade                     3 5 .375 5.0  485 536

Citrine Orange 3 5 .375 5.0 403 546

Sunburst          1  7  .125 7.0 439 536

Royal Crown     1  7 .125  7.0  430 540

*-Clinched top seed

 

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-Natalie Mehl, Citrine Orange (L) vs. Aquatic, July 7

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

24-Bridget Malloy, Electric Pink (W) vs. Sunburst, July 14

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

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

23-Emily Spratt, BlackStar (W) vs. Electric Green, July 15

23-Amy Ngo, Aquatic (W) vs. Electric Pink, July 8

23-Lianna Adames, Royal Crown (W) vs. Electric Green, July 7

22-Jocelyn Goldstein, Jade (L) vs. Aquatic, July 15

22-Abby Arnold, Jade (W) vs. Royal Crown, July 14

22-Taylor Koneig, Jade (L) vs. Purple Haze, July 1

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

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

20-Caroline Foley, Sunburst (W) vs. Jade, July 8

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

Wednesday, July 15

Purple Haze 69, Sunburst 42

Citrine Orange 2, Electric Pink 0, forfeit

Aquatic 75, Jade 46

BlackStar 49, vs. Electric Green 45

Bye: Royal Crown (1-7)

Regular Season Ends

 

Playoffs

Tuesday, July 21

Play-in

6:30 p.m.

8-Sunburst vs. 9-Royal Crown, Court 1

 

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, July 22

6:30 p.m.

1-Aquatic vs. 8-9 winner, Court 1

6-Jade vs. 3-Purple Haze, Court 2

7:45 p.m.

7-Citrine Orange vs. 2-BlackStar, Court 1

5-Electric Green vs. 4-Electric Pink, 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

 

Regular Season Previous Results

Tuesday, July 14

Jade 67, Royal Crown 59

Aquatic 75, Electric Green 42

Electric Pink 63, Sunburst 59

BlackStar 81, Citrine Orange 32

Bye: Purple Haze (4-3) 

 

Wednesday, July 8

Electric Green 55, Citrine Orange 55

Jade 64, Sunburst 63

Aquatic 70, Electric Pink 47

Purple Haze 76, Royal Crown 55

Bye: BlackStar

 

Tuesday, July 7

Purple Haze 53, Electric Pink 47

BlackStar 81, Sunburst 56

Royal Crown 56, Electric Green 47

Aquatic 85, Citrine Orange 66

Bye: Jade (1-4)

 

Wednesday, July 1

Aquatic 68, BlackStar 50

Electric Pink 59, Royal Crown 58

Electric Green 58, Sunburst 54

Purple Haze 72, Jade 63

Bye: Citrine Orange

 

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, 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

 

Team by Team Schedules and Results

 

1-Aquatic (D2-Holy Family +) 8-0

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 (W) 68-50 vs. BlackStar (D2-Jefferson)

July 7 (W) 85-66 vs.Citrine Orange (D3 Rowan + Ursinus Alums)

July 8 (W) 70-47 vs. Electric Pink (D2-Goldey-Beacom)

July 14 (W) 75-42 vs. Electric Green (D3-Gwynedd Mercy)

July 15 (W) 75-46 vs. Jade (D3-Arcadia)

July 23 (W) 8-Sunburst/9-Royal Crown, Court 1, 6:30 p.m., Q

 

2-BlackStar (D2-Jefferson+), 6-1

June 16 (W) 75-47 vs. Jade

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

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

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

July 1 (L) 50-68 vs. Aquatic

July 7 (W) 81-56

July 8 Bye

July 14 (W) 81-32 Citrine Orange

July 15 (W) 49-45 Electric Green

July 23 vs. 7-Citrine Orange, Court 1, 7:45 p.m., Q

 

7-Citrine Orange (D3-Rowan Undergrads + Ursinus Alums), 2-5

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 (L) 66-85 vs. Aquatic

July 8 (L) 55-59 vs. Electric Green

July 14 (L) 32-81 vs. BlackStar

July 15 (W) 2-0 vs. Electric Pink, forfeit

July 23 vs. BlackStar, Court 1, 7:45 p.m., Q

 

5-Electric Green (D3-Gwynedd Mercy +) 4-4

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

July 1 (W) 58-54 vs. Sunburst

July 7 (L) 47-56 vs. Royal Crown

July 8 (W) 59-55 vs. Citrine Orange

July 14 (L) 42-75 vs. Aquatic

July 15 (L) 45-49 vs. BlackStar

July 23 vs. Electric Pink, Court 2, 7:45 p.m., Q

 

4-Electric Pink (D2-Goldey-Beacom +) 4-4

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 (W) 59-58 Royal Crown

July 7 (L) 47-53 vs. Purple Haze

July 8 (L) 47-70 vs. Aquatic

July 14 (W) 63-59 vs. Sunburst

July 15 (L) 0-2 Citrine Orange, forfeit

July 23 vs. 5-Electric Green, Court 2, 7:45 p.m., Q

 

6-Jade (D3-Arcadia +) 3-5

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 (L) 63-72 vs. Purple Haze

July 7 Bye

July 8 (W) 64-63 vs. Sunburst

July 14 (W) 67-59 vs. Royal Crown

July 15 (L) 46-75 vs. Aquatic

July 23 vs. 3-Purple Haze, Court 2, 6:30 p.m., Q

 

3-Purple Haze (D2-West Chester +) 5-3

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) 68-83 vs. BlackStar

July 1 (W) 72-63 vs. Jade

July 7 (W) 53-47 vs. Electric Pink

July 8 (W) 76-55 vs. Royal Crown

July 14 Bye

July 15 (W) 69-42 vs. Sunburst

July 23 vs. 6-Jade, Court 2, 6:30 p.m., Q

 

9-Royal Crown (D3-Immaculata +) 1-7

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 (L) 58-59 vs. Electric Pink

July 7 (W) 56-47 vs. Electric Green

July 8 (L) 55-76 vs. Purple Haze

July 14 (L) 59-67 vs Jade

July 15 Bye

July 22 vs. 8-Sunburst, Court 1, 6:30 p.m.,1st Round

 

8-Sunburst (D3-Ursinus +) 1-7

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 (L) 54-58 vs. Electric Green, 7:45 p.m., Court 1

July 7 (L) 56-81 vs. BlackStar

July 8 (L) 63-64 vs. Jade

July 14 (L) 59-63 vs. Electric Pink

July 15 (L) 42-69 Purple Haze

July 22 vs. 9-Royal Crown, Court 1, 6:30 p.m., 1st Round

 

Seed Tracker

 

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

 

AQ 8-0 W-RC; W-PU; Bye; W-SU; W-BS; W-CO; W-EP; W-EG; W-JA

BS 7-1 W-JA; W-EP; W-RC; W-PH; L-AQ; W-SU; Bye; W-CO; W-EG

PH 5-3 W-CO; L-AQ; vs. LF-EG; L-BS; W-JA; W-EP; 4- RC; Bye; W-SU

EP 4-4 W-EG; L-BS; W-JA; Bye; W-RC; L-PH; L-AQ; W-SU; LF-CO

EG 4-4 L-EP; Bye; WF- PH; W-JA; W-SU; L-RC; W- CO; L-AQ; L-BS

JA 3-5 L-BS; W-CO; vs. L-EP; L-EG; L-PH; Bye; W-SU; W-RC; L-AQ

CO 3-5 L-PH; L-JA; W-SU; W-RC; Bye; L-AQ; L-EG; L-BS; WF-EP

SU 1-7 Bye; W-RC; L-CO; L- AQ; L-EG; L-BS; L-JA; L-EP; L-PH

RC 1-7 L-AQ; L-SU; L-BS; L-CO; L-EP; W-EG; L-PH; L-JA; Bye