CHC summer squad levels out at 4-4

By TOM UTESCHER

The absence of power forwards Andrea Carter and Kate Quintus last Wednesday detracted from Chestnut Hill College’s inside game, and a team called City Stars took full advantage of that fact, netting numerous shots from the paint en route to an 83-39 victory over the Griffins in the Malvern League.

It turns out that most of the City Stars are alumni of the University of Scranton, including guard Lisa Harris, who recently resigned as Germantown Academy’s assistant coach in order to pursue a graduate degree. Harris was able to recruit one of her former Patriots players for the summer league team, bringing in guard Becca Buckler, who is heading into her sophomore year at Bates College.

Chestnut Hill’s Aubrey Saylor broke the ice in last Wednesday’s contest with a lay-up on the transition, but for the next seven minutes there wasn’t much activity on the Griffins’ side of the scoreboard. City Stars went on an offensive rampage and Buckler chimed in with five points as the former Lady Royals rolled to a 17-4 lead.

Eli Cook, a Messiah College center playing on CHC’s summer team, scored her second field goal of the night to start a rally, then Saylor went coast-to-coast for a bucket and Bethanne Castone scored on a drive to keep it going for the Griffins. With two free throws by Cook and a lay-up by Keara Clauss, Chestnut Hill’s shortfall now stood at just three points, 17-14.

Amy Ciaburri of CHC matched City Stars’ next four points to make it 21-18, but late in the half the locals began to fall farther behind once more. The experience of the Scranton alums showed as they passed effectively to set up high-percentage shots, and they were ahead 40-23 by halftime.

City Stars continued to gain ground as Chestnut Hill was only able to hit back-to-back field goals once over the first ten minutes of the second half. Midway through the period, the count was 59-33. Despite having only one sub available (CHC had just one more than that), City Stars kept up a full head of steam, finishing the bout with a 15-2 flourish to win by 44.

Former GA Patriot Buckler wound up with 16 points for the winners, while Chestnut Hill got 13 from Cook, ten from Saylor, eight from Ciaburri, and six from Castone.