As the college summer league transitioned to playoff mode last week, the first of the teams with local ties ended its season. After the last round of regular-season games on Tuesday, the top six teams in the 10-team league were slotted directly into the quarter finals, while the bottom four engaged in two play-in games on Thursday to determine which two would flesh out the quarterfinal bracket.

Team Red Fire, the summer alias of Chestnut Hill College, emerged from the regular season with a 3-6 record and was seeded eighth for postseason-play. A fellow member of the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, Goldey Beacom College, supplies most of the players for Team Royal Blue, which was the ninth seed and lined up against Red Fire for a Thursday play-in.

Red had defeated Royal in Tuesday's regular-season finale, 57-49, but in the rematch two days later, the Royal team won, 55-50, and the CHC squad packed its bags. In the other play-in, seventh-seeded Team Maroon (Arcadia University) dispatched one of the "draft" teams, 10th-seeded Sunburst, 66-57.

In this week's quarterfinals, top-seeded Team Cyber Pink, an alumni team with several CHC grads, was pitted against Royal Blue, while Maroon had to play Jefferson University's Team Black, the second seed. Third-seeded Team Sky Blue (Holy Family University) would face number six Orange Citrus, while alumni team Lime Citrus, the fourth seed, would play number five, Team Purple Haze (West Chester University).

Germantown Academy grads Abby Marino and Alexa Naessens are on teams Orange and Lime, respectively, and Purple is led by Plymouth Whitemarsh alum Anna McTamney.

In Tuesday's clash between two of the three teams tied for second place (each 6-2), Black held slim leads for much of the opening quarter, then Purple Haze surged at the end to go up 19-16. Pulling even in the second period at 23-all, Black kept on going and went up by 10 points (35-25) when Plymouth Whitemarsh grad Jordyn Thomas hit a lay-up.

Purple recouped two points for a 35-27 halftime tally. P-W grad McTamney scored nine points during the third quarter but her Purple pack suffered a six-point net loss during the period (21-15). Black put an exclamation point on its victory with a 19-6 spree in the final round.

McTamney recorded a game-high 21 points, while more balanced scoring for Jefferson Black resulted in 15 points for Cassie Murphy and 14 apiece for Sam Yencha and Emily Spratt.

The third team that had a 6-2 mark going into Thursday's action, Lime Citrus, slipped into a tie for third place, losing to Sky Blue, 93-63. Lime, which received eight points from Naessens, found itself with a 6-3 mark along with Sky and Purple Haze.

League-leading Cyber Pink rose to 8-1, with Chestnut Hill College alumni Cassie Spratt and Kait Carter contributing seven and six points, respectively. Pink's victim in this 69-45 contest was winless Sunburst.

The other bout on Tuesday featured the other two teams mainly staffed by CACC players, CHC's Red Fire and Goldey Beacom's Royal Blue (College). Royal held some early leads but by the end of the first half Red had edged ahead, 31-29. The Blue bunch kept it close and only trailed 48-47 midway through the fourth quarter.

With point guard Avery White hitting from the floor and from the free throw line, CHC Red opened things up a bit to take a 53-47 advantage into the final minute. Two made free throws each by White and Bridie McCann bracketed a missed field goal attempt by Royal Blue. Blue bagged a lay-up at the very end, but succumbed 57-49.

White had a game-high 20 points, while Sara Tamoun added 10 points for the winners and McCann and fellow sophomore Caraline Herb each scored eight.

When the two teams met again on Thursday, Royal came close to building a double-digit lead in the first quarter, going ahead 17-8 at one point. The CHC crew caught up at 20-20, then Royal Blue pulled away again.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Team Red Fire trailed, 50-42, then a lay-up by freshman Tiki Miller and back-to-back field goals by McCann made it a two-point game (50-48) with two minutes to go.

In the last minute, Royal Blue added a lay-up and shot three-for three from the foul line, while Red received a lay-up from Tamoun and ended up losing 55-50.

It was actually a Division III player, Royal's Madelynn Anne Bernhardt (The College of New Jersey), who was the game's high scorer with 18 points. McCann led CHC Red with a dozen points on the night.