Hatboro, PA – If you have an affinity for blowouts and complete annihilation in basketball games than Tuesday would fulfill that thirst. In three games, a team failed to score 36 total points and some were a product of missing valuable players. In Purple’s case, both Chelsea Woods (Saint Joseph’s, 2018) and Jaryn Garner (Saint Joseph’s, 2018) didn’t play and their absence was noticed. For Orange, the team played without half of their lineup and didn’t have Allison Chernow (Emory, 2020), who has become one of the team’s top offensive options.

There were also two teams that have been making serious pushes for slots in the playoffs next week. Both Black and Maroon are on fire, pushing their respective winning streaks to over three games and could be problematic for teams to match up against in the final two games of the regular season.

Here’s the full recap of all six games that went down Tuesday in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League.

Hunter Green (3-6) picked their second straight victory over a depleted Purple team, playing more cohesive team basketball and moving the ball effectively. Sarah Payonk (Scranton, 2017) had a game-high 19 points and former Cardinal O’Hara player Katherine Feehery (Scranton, 2018) had eight points in the blowout. Feehery said last week that Hunter Green needed to pull off a winning streak to make the playoffs – and it seems like they are doing that at the moment.

Purple (5-4) scored only 13 points by halftime. Woods and Garner both usually are the catalysts but Purple’s role players just aren’t getting the job done offensively. Archbishop Wood’s Marah Hayes (Penn State Abington, NA) had a team-high 12 points. Purple struggled to find their rhythm, resulting in a 33-point performance. 

Black (4-5) has won four straight games and pulled off a minor upset of Sky Blue, able to hold a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. Lansdale Catholic product Jacqueline McCarron (Philadelphia University, 2017) led the team with 17 points and college teammate Kelsey Jones (Philadelphia University, 2017) contributed with 11 points. Black has been July’s surprise in the league and evidently wants to play in the postseason.

Maroon (7-2) didn’t have their best offensive showing Tuesday but it really didn’t affect the outcome. They easily outplayed the undermanned Orange team and had a double-digit lead for most of the contest. Laura Trisch (University of the Sciences, 2018), former player at Archbishop Wood, led the team with 10 points. Maroon is primed for a high playoff seed come next Thursday.

Gold’s games are like clockwork: they struggle to acclimate early, pick up steam in the second quarter and find success in the second half to overwhelm teams. Michele McCaughern (LaSalle, 2012) had a team-high 20 points for Gold (8-1) and was a powerful force down low. Mia Hopkins (West Chester, 2017) also showed up big with 17 points and was a threat in transition. 

“We had a good eight players and they stepped up and played hard and that’s all we asked for,” head coach Keith Wood said.

Wood also stressed the importance of playing both ways, as many of Gold’s points came from steals and hustle.

Red (3-6) kept it relatively close up until the end of the third quarter. Gold went on a late run to exacerbate the lead and just had too many weapons for Red to contain. The playoffs look like a daydream, as Brooke Mullen (West Chester, 2017) had a team-high 13 points.

This was one of the more important games of the night, with two playoff caliber teams locking horns and striving to get positioning in the standings. Royal Blue (5-4) stopped their recent skid with a five-point victory, as Katie Armstrong (Saint Joseph’s, 2020) had 10 points and teammate Amanda Fiovaranti (Saint Joseph’s 2017) added eight points in the clutch win.

White (5-4) had their winning streak come to an end and blew a lead late in the game. Alexandra Heck (Philadelphia University, 2016) had a team-high 11 points and both Keifonna Ferguson (Kutztown, 2018) and Taylor Thames (Kutztown, 2019) had 10 points a-piece. White is a dark horse going forward, despite the loss, due to their versatility and depth.

Pink (6-3) just obliterated Kelly Green, with a halftime lead of 30. Emma Dorshimer (Gettysburg, 2019) scored 20 points - six threes - and Lauren Rothfeld (Salisbury, 2017) had 16 points in the rout. When talking to head coach Steve Flynn, there wasn’t much he could do to control the sizable lead.

For Kelly Green (0-9), there was one bright spot on the team, as Sam Foy (Delaware Valley, 2017) had 16 points. With most of the players on Delaware Valley College’s team, it’s more about developing chemistry over winning in these games.