For those who observed regular-season games in the women’s summer hoops league, it’s no surprise that Jefferson University’s Team Black and Holy Family University’s Team Sky Blue would eventually play one another for the league championship in August.

The only two fully-intact NCAA Division II entries in the league, top-seeded Black and number two Sky Blue won their quarterfinal and semifinal playoff games last week to advance to the championship game.

In last Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, Black beat eighth-seeded Royal Blue, 75-51, and Sky eliminated seventh-seed Team Maroon (mostly Arcadia University athletes), 86-50. In the other two bouts, the third-seeded defending league champions, Team Cyber Pink (largely college alumni) was upset by number six Team Lemon Gold (a mix of mostly Division II players), 77-72. In the four-five matchup, higher-seeded Team Purple (with a core of West Chester University women) won 62-58 over a Division II combo team, Kelly Green.

In the semifinals on Thursday evening, Black defeated Lemon Gold, 59-36, and Sky Blue dispatched Purple, 60-50.

Up first on Court One for Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Black was led to victory by sophomore Kaci Mikulski, who made six three-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points. The winners had three other double-digit scorers: juniors Emily Spratt (16) and Tori Nigro (13), and sophomore Ana Pellecchia (10).

On Court Two, upstart Lemon Gold went up 42-36 over Cyber Pink in the first half. By the three-quarter mark, a scoring surge by Rylee Derr had helped Pink pull even at 54-all, but over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Lemon Gold charged ahead, 69-60.

Pink had climbed closer to the leaders going into the final minute of play, now down 72-68. Rising Kutztown University sophomore Kitty Randa exchanged a pair of free throws with Derr to make it 74-70 with 48 ticks to go.

A little later Lemon Gold picked up another point as Franklin & Marshall College recruit Fiona Reckner (Council Rock South H.S.) made one of two shots from the free throw line. Next, Derr missed a lay-up at one end, and Randa came up empty on two foul shots at the other.

Hamm put in a short jumper from the lane to make it 75-72 with nine seconds left, but then Pink was forced to foul Lemon Gold’s Liliana Metrick (another 2025 “Rock” South grad, headed for Widener University). She made both free throws with 6.7 seconds left to create a five-point gap. Pink came down the court and missed two outside shots, so the Gold group prevailed, 77-72.

Reckner scored 16 points and Randa had 14 for the victors, while Derr led Cyber Pink with 25 points.

Sky Blue senior Taylor Hinkle scored 20 points and 2024 Upper Dublin grad Amy Ngo added 18 in their team’s win over Maroon. Division III Maroon was paced by two rising sophomores, Arcadia’s Taylor Koenig (19) and University of Scranton’s Lizzie Halligan (16).

Former Chestnut Hill College guard Avery White (who is transferring to East Stroudsburg U. for her senior season) led Kelly Green with 19 points in a losing cause. Purple prevailed with the help of 21 points from forward Sa’ni Savage, who’ll be a junior at Chowan University.

In the first of Thursday’s semifinals, Jefferson Black jumped out to an early 12-4 lead and went on to a 36-14 halftime advantage. Lemon Gold rallied early in the second half to get back within nine points at the three-quarter mark, 45-36. However, the fourth quarter began with Black’s Spratt scoring 10 straight points. When sophomore Carlie Lapinski hit a midrange jumper and Spratt scored yet again to make it a 14-0 run, Lemon Gold waved the white flag and the game ended with 2:27 still on the clock.

Spratt scored 29 points, a single-game high for the entire league, with Lapinski, Nigro, and Pellecchia adding eight points apiece. Metrick and Kutztown sophomore Alexa Windish each posted 10 points.

After an early 4-4 tie in the second semifinal, Sky Blue ran off 15 points in a row. Purple didn’t get into double figures on the scoreboard until less than two minutes remained in the first half. It was 36-16 at the break, but Purple drew closer with a 21-9 third quarter that featured six points from Reynah Rattliff (Audenreid H.S. ‘25/Wilmington University).

Purple closed within five points with a three-pointer early in the fourth, then Sky answered with a lay-up by senior Claire Dougherty, a trey by freshman Dani Brusha, and two free throws from Ngo. Sky Blue went on to win by 10 points, with Ngo depositing 16 points and Brusha and Hinkle each scoring 12. Incoming Chestnut Hill College freshman Sabria Mann (Imhotep Charter) paced Purple with 14 points.