by Tom Utescher

A number of incoming college freshmen who’d signed up for the NCAA Summer League missed the first week of action due to various post-graduation activities, but more of them were on hand last Tuesday for the start of second week of competition.

One of the early games featured the Philadelphia University squad in its summer guise as Team Black. Newly-minted Mount St. Joseph Academy grad Caitlyn Cunningham was back from Senior Week to join fellow guard and former Mountie Kelsey Jones, a rising senior.

Another former Catholic Academies player, Merion Mercy’s Valez Jackson, led Team Black with nine points, but they succumbed 60-44, to Team White, which was paced by a 13-point performance from former Philly U. player Alex Heck. Erstwhile Mountie Cunningham hit a three-pointer in the second half of the contest.

Although recent GA grad Erin Lindahl turned up to join her former classmate Kendall Grasela, their Team Orange continued to have attendance problems, with only the five-player minimum on hand. Even though Penn Charter product Hannah Fox did not play for rival Team Pink on this occasion (after playing in the first two contests), they still had twice as many bodies available as the empty-bench Orange squad.

Lindahl, who has not been on a court in a while, finished with eight points, and four points were added by Grasela, a 5’10” guard who had to do a lot of rebounding since she was the tallest player the Orange had.

The Pink team had six players score nine or more points as they posted a 75-50 victory; St. Joseph’s University guard Mackenzie Rule put up a game-high 20 points in the losing cause.

Grasela is bound for the University of Pennsylvania, while Lindahl will be part of the incoming class at Emory University along with another Team Orange player, Upper Dublin High’s Allison Chernow.

After ousting Orange, Team Pink saw its record in the league rise to 3-0, and so did Team Gold, which knocked off a previously unbeaten Sky Blue franchise featuring new Penn Charter grad Ayanna Matthews and incoming Chestnut Hill College transfer Vicky Tumasz.

The sky above Sky Blue was darkened by seven successful three-point shots by Gold’s Alex Smith. A 2014 graduate of Holy Cross, Smith popped for 28 points overall to spearhead an 89-59 triumph for her squad.

Former Quaker Matthews (who had played during the league’s opening week, as well) finished with eight points for Sky Blue. The team was led by 12 points from 2016 Episcopal grad Lily Kuntz, who is headed for Middlebury College. Middlebury plays in the New England Small College Athletic Conference along with Hannah Fox’s future team, Amherst.

In one of Tuesday’s closer games, 2016 Mount grad Sarah Wills scored four points for Team Kelly Green in a 69-66 loss to Team Red. The Red roster is dominated by players from Division II West Chester University, while Wills, who was making her summer league debut on Tuesday, is one of eight Kelly Green players attached to Division III Delaware Valley University.

UPDATE: Team Orange notched its first victory on Thursday evening, topping Kelly Green, 71-65. Among the five double-digit scorers for the victors were Chernow, with 15 points, Rule, with 13, and Lindahl, with 11. The Pink team edged Hunter Green in overtime, 70-66, and in a facsimile of a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest, Team Black (Philly U.) bowed to Team Maroon (University of the Sciences), 64-41.