The Philadelphia/Suburban Women's Summer Basketball League, founded in the 1990s at Chestnut Hill's Water Tower Recreation Center, launched its 32nd season last week at its current venue near Willow Grove.

Uniforms were handed out and play got underway in Wednesday's early games, but it was soon discovered that this first day of summerlike heat, coming on the heels of a relatively cool stretch, was causing condensation to form on the courts of the unairconditioned facility. 

After several slips and falls, play was suspended for the evening. However, the finalized line-ups gave some insight not only into summer hoops action, but also developments on college teams.

The league is made up of players from NCAA Division II and III teams, with some teams like Jefferson University and Holy Family University playing as intact units.

With four-year starting post player Cassie Murphy having graduated from Jefferson, more responsibility in the paint will be taken on by 6'1” rising junior Jordyn Thomas, a Lafayette Hill resident who played at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. A former Mount St. Joseph antagonist, junior Tori Nigro from Villa Joseph Marie Academy, will return as the starting point guard for the Lady Rams.

At the core of Team Purple are five West Chester University women, and helping to fill out the roster are three players who are entering Chestnut Hill College this fall.

Unlike in past years, CHC did not enter a full team in the league; too many players either live outside the area or would have had trouble getting to the games. The CHC program is undergoing a bit of a makeover under Head Coach Megan Fox, now gearing up for her second season at CHC.

The three new players who are participating in the summer league embody Coach Fox's preference for an uptempo style of play. Sabria Mann comes from Philadelphia Public League power Imhotep Institute Charter, and two other guards hail from New Jersey: Bryce Harvey-Carr (Camden H.S.) and Alli Kamulda (Haddon Township). Mann and Kamulda are freshmen, and Harvey-Carr is a junior transfer.

At the same time, several Griffin veterans are shipping out. Senior point guard Avery White has transferred to East Stroudsburg University, while junior shooting guard Bridie McCann, who was the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Rookie of the Year in 2024, is headed to Florida and Nova Southeastern University. Both are members of Team Kelly Green in the summer league.

The roster for Team Cyber Pink, a team made up mostly of hoopsters who have graduated from college, will include Plymouth Whitemarsh alum Anna McTamney, who just finished up at West Chester University. Also on this squad is former Chestnut Hill College point guard Cassie (Sebold) Spratt, while the youngest member of the team is shooting guard Gabby Bowes, who just graduated from Germantown Academy and will be playing for Millersville University.

Another recent high school grad joining the league is Jocelyn Goldstein from Julia R. Masterman School, who's going on to Johns Hopkins University. A 6'2" post player who can also shoot from three-point range, Goldstein reached the 1000-point mark in scoring faster than any other player in the history of the Philadelphia Public League.

Eight players from Glenside's Arcadia University, a Division III school, are playing together on Team Maroon. Helping fill out their roster are several University of Scranton athletes, including former Inter-Ac League standout Lizzie Halligan (Academy of Notre Dame '24).