When the women of Jefferson University and Holy Family University meet on the basketball court, it’s bound to be a fierce battle. Competition met expectations not only during the winter collegiate season, but also in summer league play, as evidenced by last Tuesday’s championship game in the Philadelphia/Suburban women’s basketball Summer League.

Jefferson, known as Team Black in summer competition, entered as the top seed with a 10-0 overall record (including two wins in the playoffs), while Holy Family, known as Team Sky Blue, was 8-2.

Sky Blue started strong and led by 13 points early in the second quarter. It took Black a while to catch up, but Jefferson’s summer Lady Rams finally edged ahead by a point at the start of the fourth period. Six minutes later, Black led by seven, but the Sky Blue Tigers finished out the contest with a 13-0 run, prevailing 66-60.

The league’s defending champion, Team Cyber Pink (mainly college alums) was upset in the quarterfinals by a squad that lost to Black in the semifinals.

In regular college play, both Jefferson and Holy Family are members of the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), as is Chestnut Hill College. Jefferson won the conference championship in 2024, while Holy Family took the CACC crown this year.

In the summer league’s regular season, Jefferson Black defeated Holy Family’s Sky Blue by a score of 67-60 on July 17, and earlier Sky lost to Cyber Pink, 57-52.

In last week’s final, Sky Blue’s offense fired on all cylinders at the outset. Taylor Hinkle (the CACC’s MVP for 2024-25) scored three buckets from the paint and four of her teammates struck from the three-point loop during the opening period.

Sky first gained a double-digit lead (21-11) with 2:20 remaining in the first quarter, and at the end of the frame they led 24-13. Black had to step up their defense to avoid getting knocked out of contention by halftime.

They managed to hold Holy Family to nine points in the second quarter, but only scored 11 themselves and trailed 33-24 at the intermission. Rising Jefferson junior Emily Spratt led Black with six points, while Holy Family sophomore Amy Ngo (an Upper Dublin H.S. grad) had eight points in the book.

As the third quarter got underway, two layups and a free throw by Spratt and a jumper from the right wing by sophomore Kaci Mikulski sent Team Black on a 7-0 run. Later, with 4:11 remaining in the period, Mikulski netted a three-pointer from the right side to tie the game at 37-all.

Sky Blue countered to go ahead again, and were up by four points near the end of the period.

Holding the ball for the last shot, Spratt scored on a drive down the lane with three seconds left. When she made a free throw that was tacked onto the play, her squad was down by just one point going into the fourth quarter, 45-44.

The summer Rams finally forged ahead when sophomore Ana Pellecchia connected on a jumper from the left baseline. Jefferson junior Carolyn Sipprell followed up with the first of her three field goals in the quarter. A bit later, Sky Blue called a timeout, facing a 58-53 shortfall with 4:37 left to play.

When play resumed, Mikulski canned a midrange jumper from the right, spreading the score to 60-53 with 3:34 remaining. Team Black would not score again. Fouls on Sky Blue’s Monee Moore (a Holy Family alum) and Hinkle led to four made free throws.

Sky stepped up pressure on Team Black’s transition offense, and Ngo stole the ball to score. Hinkle poked the ball loose from a Jefferson ballhandler near the sideline. Ngo recovered it and romped down for a layup, moving Sky Blue back into the lead. Fouled on the play, Ngo hit the free throw to make it 62-60 with 1:42 on the clock.

Jefferson missed an outside shot and a layup at the other end. Moore made a free throw for Sky, and Black missed from the floor with a half-minute to go. Two free throws from Ngo and one by Hinkle rounded out the 66-60 final score.

Ngo and Hinkle led Sky Blue with 15 and 13 points, respectively, while junior Kara Meredith added nine points and incoming freshman Dani Brusha had eight. Team Black received a game-high 19 points from Spratt, 10 from Mikulski, and eight from Pellecchia.