By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA - The best-of-three finals of the Philadelphia Dept, of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League Gets Under Way atr 7 p.m. Wednesday night at Torresdale Boys Club, Linden and Jackson Sts., also the home of the Jacobs playground located within a few blocks of the I-95 Academy Road exit.
In a rarity of recent seasons, the top two teams prevailed with the Columbia Blue beating the Red team, 70-54, as former West Chester star Dana Weems scored 20 points, while Red was led by Kisha Thompson's 18 points on Monday night in one of the semifinals.
The White team defeated the Teal team, 72-68, in overtime, as Andrea Jones scored 18 for White and La Salle's Ashley Gale added 16 points.
The second game will be Monday night with a third, if necessary contest, to be played on next Wednesday, same time and place as this week's action.
We'll be bacl in the evening after the game, as well as inserting any new AP files from the Olympics depending what we see.
Saluting Fallen Colleagues
The Guru was sadden to learn that our outstanding colleague Milton Kent took a buyout at the Baltimore Sun, although the Guru is glad Milton has found a way to continue a presence.
You all should know that Wendy Parker has done likewise at the Atlanta Journal Constitution where she has actually been involved in the paper's web site the last several years.
Also, if any of you haven't noticed, Oscar Dixon, who had been the principal NBA and WNBA writer at USA Today, left in March to head up the sports area of the AP first in a new series of regional operations, this one out of Atlanta.
Needless to say, all these departures will have an effect in coverage at the pro and colleagiate levels.
Looking Ahead
August 25th is looming as a key news event day on several fronts.
At that moment, the Olympics will have ended in Beijing, China; the Democratic Convention will be getting under way, and, ahem, the 25th is also the first day of class at the University of Connecticut for the fall semester.
By then, if not sooner, the world will know whether Wilmington sensation Elene Delle Donne, the nation's top prospect, will be returning to Storrs after abruptly leaving summer school in early June two days after her arrival.
And just to clarify to those who have been speculating on a potential transfer to Villanova, one of the finalists in the sweepstakes last summer for Delle Donne's gifted talents, Big East rules, which were changed several years ago, do not allow a student to transfer within the conference to play once a letter of intent has been signed.
That was not the case several years ago when Kia Wright made a quick exit to St. John's near her home, and Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma also granted a release that allowed her immediate eligibility.
Hard to believe that a year ago at this time the topic of conversation dominating the news had been the breakup of the Tennessee-Connecticut series, a discussion which has finally abated.
Obviously, more to come.
-- Mel
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