Germantown Academy alum Jaryn Garner of Team Electric Green goes for a lay-up against Whisper Fisher (right), a fellow St. Joseph's University hoopster playing summer ball for Team Sky Blue. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In NCAA summer league action last week, area women on Team Black and Team Electric Green remained in the playoff hunt, both winning on Thursday evening to become part of a four-way logjam for third place. All four finished the week with records of 6-3, while ahead of them were 8-1 Team Maroon, staffed largely by University of the Sciences players, and 7-2 Team Forest Green, which draws most of its talent from West Chester University.

Team Black, powered by Philadelphia/Jefferson University athletes, includes Mount St. Joseph grads Kelsey Jones and Caitlyn Cunningham, although Jones can only play in Tuesday games due to work commitments. Last Thursday, Black took a 79-55 decision from Team Orange, which has a number of ladies from another Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference School, Holy Family University.

Another CACC program, Chestnut Hill College, has a number of its players on Team Red in the summer league, but due to injuries and absences, they forfeited on Thursday to Team Royal Blue (mostly Kutztown University).

Team Electric Green includes guard Jaryn Garner, a Germantown Academy grad now playing at St. Joseph's University. Electric's 81-66 victory last Thursday came at the expense of a Sky Blue Team whose roster features three other GA alums, Olivia Gorman (Wesleyan), Kendall Grasela (Penn), and Erin Lindahl (Emory). Gorman was not on hand for Thursday's bout.

Sarah Wills, a Mount St. Joe grad who is a rising sophomore at Delaware Valley University, plays with a number of her college colleagues on Team Purple, a franchise which has found rough going this summer.

Mount grad Sarah Wills eyes up a shot for Team Purple. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Although their only win is a forfeit collected two weeks ago, Purple jumped out ahead of second-place Forest Green early last Thursday and then remained in contention until the fourth quarter. Forest finally emerged with a 77-66 win as MSJ grad Wills finished with nine points, bagging a pair of three-pointers for Team Purple.

This was one of the 8:15 P.M. games. Earlier, Electric Green met Sky Blue, with Garner and Grasela each depositing two field goals as their teams ended the first quarter in a 15-15 tie. Grasela proceeded to put in two three-pointers and a shorter shot to help lift Sky to a 25-19 lead early in the second round. The momentum shifted as Electric embarked on a 12-2 run and went on to lead 38-31 at the half.

The margin was still in single figures by the three-quarter mark (54-46), but Electric opened the fourth period with seven straight points and was never in danger after that. Garner wound up with eight points while providing a number of assists to her St. Joe's teammate Chelsea Woods, who poured in a game-high 31. Four three-point buckets helped make up Grasela's team-high 18 points for Sky Blue, and Lindahl hit one "three" and emerged with nine points.

Next up on the same court was the clash between CACC conference players on teams Black and Orange. After gaining a modest lead over the course of the opening period (21-18), Black found itself in a 27-all tie with Orange midway through the second quarter. The Philly/Jefferson women then accelerated away from Orange in the final five minutes of the first half, and were up 43-27 at the break.

Receiving a game-high 24-point performance from forward Beverly Kum, Team Black kept rolling to a 24-point decision. Former Mountie Cunningham scored nine points, and 13 points came from fellow guard Alynna Williams (Plymouth Whitemarsh '15).