The women’s college summer basketball league ended its 2026 season on a familiar note last week. For the second year in a row, a squad composed primarily of players from Holy Family University (known as Team Aquatic for 2026) won the championship game over a ball club staffed mainly by athletes from NCAA Division II rival Jefferson University (Team Blackstar).

Coming from behind, undefeated Aquatic scored at the very end of regulation play to force the contest into overtime, and then prevailed 72-67. Blackstar had been seeded second for the playoffs, having lost only to Aquatic during the regular season.

The league’s change of venue to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School this year proved an unqualified success, as players and fans enjoyed a top-notch facility with very effective air conditioning. PW girls’ varsity basketball coach, Dan Dougherty, served as the league’s liaison with the school, and students worked at the scoring tables and managed other tasks.

The July 29 playoff final followed the semifinal bouts played on July 28, when Aquatic defeated fifth-seeded Team Electric Green and Blackstar got by number three Team Purple Haze.

The league’s lone undefeated team, Aquatic, has been a slow starter in many contests this summer, and in their semifinal they trailed Electric Green, 12-10, at the end of the first quarter. They perked up in the second period, with six different players scoring as Aquatic built a 28-18 halftime lead.

They kept pulling away to win by 21 points, as a list of nine point-scorers was led by Holy Family junior Amy Ngo (Upper Dublin High School) and Michigan import Jessica Massey (Saginaw Valley State). Each totaled 10 points. Millerville University sophomore Gabby Bowes (Germantown Academy) scored five points for Electric Green.

For their semifinal, Blackstar was missing high scorer Emily Spratt. The Jefferson senior was involved in plans for the upcoming wedding of her sister Abbey, a former Chestnut Hill College guard (‘23).

This game was neck-and-neck most of the way, with Purple Haze holding a 21-19 edge at the half and Blackstar up 28-25 at the three-quarter mark.

Jefferson senior Gabby Recinto hit three field goals in the fourth quarter and had some nice defensive plays, as well, and her squad went into the final minute with a 43-37 lead. Two Plymouth Whitemarsh grads who went on to West Chester University responded for Purple, with Erin Daley scoring on a long scoop shot and Anna McTamney driving in for a lay-up. That made it 43-41 with less than 20 seconds to go.

Blackstar turned the ball over across the sideline, but Purple’s next shot was well off the mark. Morgan Sconza (one of the two Georgian Court University athletes on Blackstar) rebounded the ball as bodies collided in the paint.

Tempers flared, and one player on each side was slapped with a technical fouled. There were still 3.7 seconds on the clock, but the officials decided to end the game right there, with Black still ahead by two points. Purple’s McTamney came away with a game high of 12 points, while Blackstar got eight points apiece from Jefferson sophomores Bella Bacani and Caleigh Sperling.

The following night the other Blackstar player from Georgian Court, Karissa Smedley, started off the finals with three-pointers from the top of the key and the left wing. Blackstar was still up by six points at the end of the first period, 20-14. They’d gotten points from six different players, while Holy Family sophomore Dani Brusha led Aquatic’s five scorers with two made free throws and a trey from the right side of the floor.

The early leaders grew careless on offense in the second quarter, seeming to just fling the ball at the basket instead of releasing proper shots. Blackstar’s margin dwindled to a single point several times, then with a little over five minutes to go before halftime, HFU junior Cameron Gregory’s second three-point bucket of the quarter moved Aquatic ahead for the first time, 26-24.

Later, the blue crew assumed a seven-point lead (35-28) when 2026 Gwynedd Mercy Academy grad Brooke Evans bagged a “three” from the top of the key. Evans, who was the only NCAA Division III player on the court, is headed to Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

Blackstar’s Cassidy Kruesi, a New Jersey native who is transferring to Jefferson from the University of Tampa, scored on a drive to narrow the gap, and another successful drive was made by Sperling right at the buzzer, setting the halftime score at 35-32.

Blackstar’s pep talk at the intermission proved successful as the squad started the second half with an 11-0 run. It began with layups by Recinto, senior Tori Nigro, and junior Ana Pellecchia (off of a steal). Then Spratt netted a trey from the keytop and followed up with a shorter jumper, making it 43-35.

Finally, Aquatic got its side of the scoreboard moving again with a layup by Holy Family sophomore Ella Brown. She’d only scored four points in the first half, but now she emerged with the hot hand for Aquatic, ringing up 11 points during the third and fourth quarters.

Still, with no fewer than eight players finding the basket in the third period, Blackstar took a 51-41 advantage into the final frame. While Aquatic managed only a lone free throw by junior Lola Ibarrondo during the first minute of the fourth quarter, Blackstar’s Spratt scored off a steal and then put in a pair of free throws.

Aquatic now trailed by 13 (55-42), but climbed back into contention with the help of three-point strikes by Ibarrondo, senior Kara Meredith, and Brown. After Brown’s bucket, Aquatic called time-out with 57.9 seconds on the clock and Blackstar still up 59-55.

One-for-two foul-shooting by Spratt led to another Aquatic time out. When play resumed Gregory, a six-foot forward, drained her second three-pointer of the fourth quarter with 38 seconds left. Aquatic stole the ball back, and the relentless Brown drove to the hoop, tying the affair at 60-60 with 21 ticks remaining in regulation. After a Blackstar time-out almost all of the remaining seconds slipped away, then Spratt freed herself with a spin move near the foul line and popped in a jumper.

As Aquatic inbounded the ball from its offensive baseline with 1.9 seconds left, everyone knew they’d try and get the ball to Brown. For some reason, this didn’t seem to sink in for Blackstar, which got into a defensive mismatch that help Brown take, and make, a midrange jumper from the right wing. The bout was headed to overtime, after all.

As the three-minute session progressed, the teams traded points to make it 64-all. With a minute left, Brusha bagged a three from the right side. Next, Blackstar’s fifth team foul sent Ngo to the line to make a pair of free throws, giving Aquatic a 69-64 lead with 27.8 seconds on the clock.

Following a Blackstar turnover, it was back to the charity stripe for Ngo, who again made both shots.

Blackstar’s next offensive foray featured two missed shots, the second rebounded by Aquatic. Blackstar’s Recinto fouled out with 7.3 ticks to go and Brusha hit the first of two free throws for a 72-64 advantage. A final three-pointer by Blackstar’s Bacani simply made the final tally a little closer, 72-67.

Brown led all scorers with 17 points, and Aquatic received 11 from Brusha, 10 from Ngo, and eight from Ibarrondo. Spratt paced Blackstar with 16 points, and Sperling, with 11 points, was the only other player on the team with more than seven.