La Salle Alums Help Columbia Blue to Philly Summer League Crown (Women's Hoops Guru)

La Salle Alums Help Columbia Blue to Philly Summer League Crown

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Former La Salle star Crista Ricketts scored 23 points and her past Explorers teammate Davineia Payne added nine as Columbia Blue captured the annual Department of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League title over Team White, 63-55, Monday night at Torresdale Boys Club in Northeast Philadelphia.

Former Penn star Joey Rhoads also scored nine points as the league's top team this past summer captured the finals with a 2-0 sweep.

Team White, which forced a playoff for top seed in the tournament by upsetting Columbia Blue on the last night of the regular season, got 17 points from player-coach Andrea Jones and 15 from current La Salle player Antonia Gale.

Former St. Joseph's star Tracy Harmon coached Columbia Blue.

Team White did not die without a fight, slicing a 16-point second-half deficit to six with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left to play.

Ricketts is heading for Austria to play overseas Aug. 29.

Other players who were drafted to the Columbia Blue roster at the beginning of the summer were Allie Fedorowicz, a member of Cornell's Ivy League champions last season, Princeton's Addie Micir, Widener's Nicole Curry, and a trio of St. Joseph's current stars: Amy Gillespie, Kelly Cavallo, and Sarah Acker.

The big surprise of the night occurred off the court at halftime when longtime commissioner David Kessler was honored for his annual contributions.

Kessler will be retiring next spring from the Dept. of Rec but was a little sheepish over the plaudits, which included applause from everyone on site.

"I was flattered, but they shouldn't have done it yet," Kessler said. "I will be around here next summer helping the next commissioner get started."

-- Mel

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Posted by Mel Greenberg on August 13, 2008 12:46 AM | Permalink

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Authors

Mel Greenberg covers college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he has worked for 38 years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Jonathan Tannenwald is a producer with Philly.com. In addition to covering the local college scene, he spent two years as the Washington Mystics beat writer for Women's Hoops Guru. He also writes his own blog, Soft Pretzel Logic, which covers men's college basketball, football, and a variety of other sports.

Kathleen Radebaugh is a recent graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She was the women's basketball beat writer for the school's newspaper, The Hawk, and became the sports editor her sophomore year. She was also a four-year member of the varsity crew team.

Other contributors

-- Erin Semagin Damio covers the University of Connecticut and the WNBA's Connecticut Sun for the blog, and contributes other features. The Storrs, Conn., native also attends Northeastern University, where she is a coxswain on the varsity crew team.

-- Acacia O'Connor is based in Washington, D.C., where she reports on the Mystics and the college basketball scene in the nation's capital. A graduate of Vassar college, she played on the varsity women's basketball team and was editor of the student newspaper.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on August 13, 2008 12:46 AM.

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Women's Hoops Guru

Notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of women's basketball.