Summer hoops league returns for college athletes

by Tom Utescher
Posted 6/23/21

The Philadelphia/Suburban women's summer basketball league, which actually got its start in Chestnut Hill decades ago, returned to action last week after 2020's suspension due to COVID-19 …

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Summer hoops league returns for college athletes

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The Philadelphia/Suburban women's summer basketball league, which actually got its start in Chestnut Hill decades ago, returned to action last week after 2020's suspension due to COVID-19 regulations.

Four of the teams in the mix for 2021 are members of the Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Southern Division, Chestnut Hill College, Jefferson University, Holy Family University, and University of the Sciences, are located within the City of Philadelphia. In addition, most of the members of the CACC Northern Division located in northern New Jersey and the immediate environs of New York City, so the conference called off 2020-21 athletic competition.

The 2021 summer league also includes some teams made up primarily of players from Division III schools (team are named after colors and don't bear the names of colleges and universities), and one of these is largely comprised of Ursinus College players, including Germantown Academy alums Sarah and Charlotte DiLello.

Charlotte, who received her GA diploma earlier this month, was still engaged in post-graduation activities last week, but Sarah, a year older, was on hand for the start of the summer league. She also plays softball for Ursinus, along with Springside Chestnut Hill Academy alumna Kayla McTamney and Penn Charter grad Maddie Solow.

As summer hoops action opened up last Thursday, the first round of games featured a match-up between the Ursinus-powered Team Royal Blue and Team Pink. The Pink franchise is made up of alumni from USciences, including former Inter-Ac League standout Sarah Abbonizio (Episcopal Academy '14).

Team Royal soon discovered that the old USciences women still had a lot of life left in them, as Team Pink secured a 29-26 halftime lead and went on to win by 10 points, 64-54. Royal was led on offense with a game-high 22-point showing by Dana Bandurick, who actually plays for Swarthmore College and is a 2019 graduate of Council Rock North H.S. Alyssa Martin, a Gwynedd Mercy Academy grad who plays for Ursinus, added eight points, and DiLello hit one three-point field goal.

EA alum Abbonizio scored nine points for the Pink, which received 16 from Irisa Ye (North Penn).

On the same court in the second time slot was the CHC-dominated Team Orange. Their opponents, Team Kelly Green (largely Kutztown University athletes), had much more success finding the net than the Orange at the outset, jumping out to a 22-2 advantage.

The CHC franchise played better late in the first half and during the second half, but the summer Griffins couldn't make up for their slow start. Ahead 42-21 at the intermission, Kelly Green went on to win, 80-44, with 16 points from Leah Johnson (from West Chester University), 10 from Shannon Hinchey, and six or more points apiece from six other players.

Chestnut Hill's roster includes guard/forward Kait Carter, who was a 1000-point scorer at Penn Charter ('20) but didn't get to play a freshman season in college this past winter. She scored four points for Team Orange in Thursday's summer league debut, as did CHC'S Trinity Brittingham ('23), and Amber Washington ('23). Morgan Orloski, a rising senior, had a team-high nine points, and Orange received six points apiece from Lauren Crim ('23) and Kayla Dougherty ('24).