Women’s summer league beneficial for area alumni
UPPER MORELAND >> The Philadelphia and surrounding suburban area produces an abundance of talented basketball players on a yearly basis.
Many of them go on to play at the college level and of that number, a good portion often won’t stray too far from home in order to do it. For the past 25 years, the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Summer Basketball League has provided those local players an avenue to stay in shape and work on their game.
The league wrapped up its 25th season Tuesday as the Maroon team of USciences players topped the Black team of Jefferson University players at Kelly Bolish Gym in Upper Moreland Township.
“The nice thing about sum-
mer league is there’s no pressure,” USciences rising sophomore Irisa Ye, a North Penn graduate, said. “You can play a little more freely and make mistakes. Even the games that aren’t as competitive, you can still work on things you aren’t as strong in. For example, I’m trying to get my shot better, so there’s an opportunity for me to risk taking and missing some and if they go in, it shows I’m getting better at it.”
This summer, the league had 10 teams consisting of players from Division I-III and ranging from incoming freshmen to a handful of players no longer in school. Some teams’ rosters, like Maroon and Black, were made up of all players from one college team.
Other teams had a core of players from one college, like the Chestnut Hill College foundation of Kelly Green, supplemented by players from other universities that filled lacking positions while the remainder, like team Royal Blue, had one or two representatives from a multitude of collegiate rosters.
NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from actually coaching any teams, though they were permitted to observe games and speak with players after games. Likewise, Division I players are only allowed to play with one teammate from their college roster, so there were representatives from St. Joe’s and Lafayette on multiple summer league teams.
For the teams that were able to have the majority of their rosters in the league, the summer provided a chance to build chemistry and give the incoming freshmen a first look at the next level.
“The summer is just a lot of fun, it’s a chance to bond with your team and get a feel for each other,” Erin Maher, a North Penn alum heading into her redshirt senior season at Jefferson, said. “You get a chance to play with everybody and build your skills together. It pays off tremendously that (coach Tom Shirley) recruits so much locally. We’re mostly local girls, so it pays off for us when the season starts.”
The league itself has changed and grown over the last 25 years. League Director David Kessler explained the league used to have a much larger Division I player base, until NCAA rules got more stringent and that the number of players in the league has grown back from its early days in Northeast Philly.
This summer, the league had more than 100 players representing more than 40 colleges, with a huge percentage of that player base having played high school ball in the area. North Penn had seven alumni in the league, the highest number from a single high school although St. Basil Academy was close behind with six former players involved.
League play begins in mid-June and minus a Fourth of July holiday break, continues unabated into early August, so that players still have some time off before they return to their respective campuses.
“As a point guard, I made an effort to learn my teammates’ strengths early on so I’d know where people like the ball, whether it be a post or a guard, and in what situations,” rising Amherst junior Hannah Fox, who played for Royal Blue, said. “I didn’t know all that the first week, I was still learning and my teammates were still learning. I think it’s natural, if you know your teammates or not, from game to game, improvement is going to happen.”
Tuesday night’s title was the first for USciences in summer league play, having lost the last three championship games. The Devils had a stellar 2017-18 season, winning the CACC title and making a run in the Division II NCAA tournament and bring back a solid core from that team.
North Penn alums Ye and Mikaela Giuliani sparked Maroon in the title tilt on Tuesday, each scoring 10 points in the 53-50 win. Ye netted six points in the final four minutes of the third quarter, starting with a strong post finish while Giuliani had six of her team’s first seven points in the fourth quarter.
Maroon held a 54-43 lead with about three minutes to go when black, sparked by Archbishop Wood alum Jess Kaminski and Plymouth Whitemarsh product Alynna Williams, made a comeback. Kaminski, who will be a redshirt senior this season and Williams, a rising redshirt junior, combined for three steals and eight straight points to get within three of Maroon’s lead.
Isis Young, a Life Center Academy product going into her senior year at Syracuse, had the highest single-game scoring output of the summer, putting up 39 points on June 19. Young also had a 31-point game and two 26-point outings.
Lydia Konstanzer (Ursinus/Pennridge) had the highest output of area alumni, scoring 32 for Lime Green in their first round playoff win over Kelly Green. Red’s Natalie Kucowski, a rising Lafayette sophomore out of St. Basil, scored 30 on June 29. Fox had a summer-best 26 on June 26 while her Royal Blue teammate Emma Dorshimer (Gettysburg College/Jenkintown) had 25 two days later on June 28. Fox scored 20 or more three times while Kucowski hit the mark four times.
Basketball never stops and next summer, they’ll gather again with a shared goal of ending the summer league a better player than they started it.
“I’m really glad I got a chance to do this, if I didn’t, I think I’d be a lot more nervous going into the season,” incoming Chestnut Hill College freshman Lauren Crim, a Lansdale Catholic graduate, said. “It’s great this league exists.”