By Mel Greenberg

TRENTON-HAMILTON-PRINCETON, N.J. - The triple dateline is an attempt to stay accurate while the Guru reports that it is very early Thursday afternoon and he is aboard Amtrak (courtesy of Amtrak Points) for a quick trip up and back to casino-land to take in tonight's Connecticut-Seattle WNBA game.

The Guru will file on the return route. And now, since the laptop is plugged into the train's power system, the aircard is working (amazing though how many WIFI home networks are signaling the Guru), and Ipod is on stand by, it is time to take advantage of the technology and slip a disc into the blue-ray drive and watch a movie.

See you on the overnight.

 -- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

 Columbia Blue, accented by St. Joseph's and Cheyney stars, handed Red a taste of its own playoff medicine and came back for a 68-64 win Monday night to sweep the best-of-three championship round and claim the 2009 title of the Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League at Parkwood Youth Center in the Northeast.

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the fifth-seeded Red team rallied twice to pull a pair of upsets to advance to the title round against the top-seeded Columbia Blue squad, who went 10-2 in the regular season.

 This time it was Columbia's turn for a comeback after trailing 24-8 from the outset and 33-28 at the half.

 Former Holy Family star Kate Baum scored 13 points, while Cheyney's Angel Stephens scored 12 and her Wolves teammate Angel Handerson scored 11. St. Joseph's Amy Gillespie also scored 11.

 One might say a pair of Angels rescued Columbia after it appeared headed for theplayoff morgue.

 Columbia had to make do without St. Joseph's Brittany Ford, who suffered a minor injury in the quarterfinals, and Hawks incoming freshan Ashley Robinson, who appeared to sprain her ankle in the opening minutes of Monday's game, according to several observers.

 The winners were still able to dominate the boards despite missing the two prominent Hawks post players.

 Red got a monster night out of recently-graduated La Salle star Margaret Elderton, a Haverford High alumna, who matched her all-time Explorers total with 32 points. Drexel Ayana Lee added 10 points, West Chester's Megan Stewart was held to seven points, and La Salle post player Chelsea Conner scored six.

 The game marked the end of the era of longtime league commissioner David Kessler, who will be feted at a farewell party next month. Details will be listed here, but considering that last summer Kessler was set to bid adieu, it is still to be determined if this time it's for real.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

  In the very early years of the WNBA, basketball purists found the court action to be -- well -- revolting, to put it mildly.

 More times than not, post play referred to guards mailing the ball to get it into the frontcourt without causing a turnover.

 Season 13, however, is anything but an unlucky number for the women's pro league if one dispenses with the national ecomonic conditions that have affected operations.

If a theme exists to date, it is Revenge of the Fallen, with perennial playoff-contending also-rans revolting against the teams that have been the dominate forces.

Much of that is due to the recent influx of new talented stars  who were the All-Americans of recent collegiate season.

In fact, this stretch right now could also be entitled The Underdog Days of August.

In many respects, the standings are almost a reflection of the last collegiate season with upsets galore.

True, Indiana is imitating the University of Connecticut record-wise, compared to the other 12 teams, but no one is bold enough to declare the Fever as the overwhelming favorite.

However, Indiana took one step to enhance credibility to its postseason hopes Saturday night in the desert when the Fever beat the Phoenix Mercury, 90-83, in a battle of conference leaders.

In an oddity, the word Connecticut can be applied to two aspects of the Fever's win with former Huskies star Jessica Moore scoring 19 points and former WNBA Connecticut Sun star Katie Douglas popping a career-best six three-pointers on the way to 28 points.

Indiana, which had its own UConn-Rutgers alumna roster combo in Moore and former Scarlet Knight Tammy Sutton-Brown (Phoenix has Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, besides Ketia Swanier), seems to be upholding a dubious WNBA tradition.

There's been a history in preseason stories of teams projected for extinction suddenly becoming the hot number. That happened to the Detroit Shock, Sacramento Monarchs, and Seattle who have all risen to win WNBA titles.

Indiana, enjoying its best season ever, holds a whopping 5 1/2 game lead over Washington - yeah you heard that right on both counts -  and may soon have control of home court advantage in the finals, assuming Indiana gets that far.

And that cautionary note is also different than what is normally said this time of year.

By now, one could pretty much have an idea of what cities will be involved for the championship round.

Los Angeles, Uncasville (Conn.), Detroit, and Houston (prior to the Comets' demise), have been the frontrunners heading into the stretch drive with a few others making guest appearances in different season.

But now, long-range planning has yet to have viability.

The East, especially, has one heck of a race in terms of newbies (or seldom-bies) fighting for the postseason. Washington, in second, holds a slim one-game lead over Chicago, Atlanta (what a jump for the Dream from its rookie season),  and normally dominate Connecticut for the other three conference playoff spots with the defending champion Shock two games back.

Detroit is getting near the moment where the Shock are going to have to find some consistency to move ahead of the pack, which will be beating up on each other. New York, which finally got its first win in three tries under new coach Anne Donovan is 3 1/2 back, but given the condition, the Liberty may end up playing the role of spoiler.

Hard to believe that a year ago the same New York team was minutes away from the WNBA finals. Incidentally, Donovan's first return to Seattle since last coaching the Storm in 2007, was made less joyous when the Storm won a 70-69 thriller on Saturday night.

Seattle's Sue Bird, (yet another former UConn star), hit two foul shots with 3:11 left to play and the game remained scoreless the rest of the way.

 Meanwhile, over in the West, Seattle seems a postseason lock slong with Phoenix while Minnesota and defending conference champion San Antonio need to hold off a late-season surge, if it comes, from Los Angeles, which finally has both Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker back on the court together.

In fact, with Leslie heading for the last days of her career, one can envision the Guru's ESPN friends pulling for a storyline out of Hollywood.

                                      Washington's Troops Increase

  The Penn State family has a new addition but NCAA eligibility rules prohit court-time until more than a decade from now.

  Nittany Lions coach Coquese Washington gave birth to Rhaiyna Kamille Brown, the second child of the former Notre Dame star and her husbansd Raynell Brown, on July 23. The Guru is sure, newspapers existingt or not, that when Rhaiyna first puts on a uniform, her presence will be a reason for spell-checkers to remain on word processing programs to make sure reporters get her first name right.

The Guru got the email announcement but hadn't had a chance to say congratulations and, unless he missed it, hadn't seen a posting at the major public women's sites.

                                      Geno at the Beach

  Before heading to vacation, the Hartford Courant's John Altavilla worried that major news involving UConn would occur during his absence from the beat, which had become the case in recent situations.

Sure enough, Auriemma will be in the news Wednesday with  a nice gesture but nothing that will make John leap into the Connecticut River.

It was almost a year ago at this time that Auriemma finally ended of a summer of suspense when he sent word that Blue Chip recruit Elena Delle Donne had decided not to attend UConn.

She subsequently enrolled at Delaware, near her home, played volleyball in the fall and then decided to return to basketball where she will be a freshman with the Blue Hens when school resumes next month.

This summer's action at the Jersey shore is somewhat different.

 Auriemma will join his Philly buds and men's coaches Phil Martelli (St. Joseph's), Fran Dunphy (Temple men's coach), Steve Lappas (formerly Villanova and several other school who now commentates for CBS College Sports), and Chris Ford (former Villanova star and coach of the 76ers and Boston Celtics) just outside Ocean City, Wednesday morning to support Ocean City Bank president Steven E. Brady in a check presentation to Operation First Response.

The organization is a nonprofit entity that assists wounded soldiers and their families in times of crisis.

                Making A Point

      The Point Guard College for high school and collegiate men and women, run by former Virginia star Dena Evans and  will be held this week at St. James School in Hagerstown, Md., Monday thrugh Thursday.

    In the past, such notables as Kristi Toliver (WNBA-Chicago Sky, Maryland), Rashanda McCants (Minnesota Lynx, North Carolina), Lyndsey Medders-Fennelly (Iowa State and now a PGC director), Abby Waner (Duke), and Jenny Boucek (Virginia, who was recently WNBA Sacramento coach), have been among the attendees.

More information can be found at the web site pointguardcollege.com.

                 Personal Guru

   The Guru would just like to note that he was not involved in last Friday's Twitter collapse, even though curiously the computer server disaster happened within an hour of the Guru's most recent previous post in which he took a tongue-in-cheek shot at Twitter.

   Yes, to follow up on one of the 140-plus character comments, the Guru did get his hair cut.

 Furthermore, unlike others, the Guru is not involved with an endorsement deal for the Dr. Dre Heasdphones that have come onto the market in a partnership with Monster Technology.

   That said, although he does own the regular-size version, he purchased the new smaller "tour" edition, in the mode of Ipod buds, and he would like to say that the sound emanating from speakers of such tracks as Lady Gaga's Eh, Eh is quite remarkable.

      -- Mel   

By Mel Greenberg

   PHILADELPHIA _ It's one but perhaps a ways to go yet before being done in the best-of-three finals of the Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League.

 Unlike the two earlier rounds, this time a Red rally came up just short and the top-seeded Columbia Blue team emerged with a narrow 57-56 win over its fifth-seeded opponent Wednesda night at Parkwood Youth Organization in Northeast Philadelphia.

  The outcome was not determined until an attempted game-winner at the buzzer did not drop for recent La Salle graduate Margaret Elderton, who finished with 16 points.

  The way the Red team has performed with a roster loaded with Division II West Chester players, Golden Gopher fans may soon want an NCAA upgrade for their team.

 For you readers  outside the Philadelphia area, West Chester is the same school that spawned former Immaculata coach Cathy Rush and a certain Connecticut coach named Geno Auriemma, who are both Naismith Basketball and Women's Basketball Hall of Famers It is also the school where the late Carole Eckman organized the first collegiate-only women's tournament in 1969 leading to the eventual formation of the AIAW tournaments prior to the onset of AIAW competition.

For the winning Columbia Blue, which dominated the backboards, a trio of St. Joseph's Hawks -- incoming freshmen Ashley Robinson and Shelby Smith along with senior Amy Gillespie -- each scored 10 points, while Cheney's Angel Stephens, an addition to last Monday's semifinal round, scored eight points.

St. Joseph's senior Brittany Ford did not play for Columbia Blue due to an injury sustained in Monday's action. The Guru did not attend either round and learned of the situation in the middle of the night, so he's check into it to inform Hawk fans whether or not there's cause for concern this winter.

 Columbia University's Megan Griffih scored 23 to lead Red, while La Salle senior Chelsea Connor scored eight.

 Red will try to force a third and deciding game when the two teams meet again at 7 p.m. Monday at Parkwood, DunksFerry and Mechansville Road. (For those without GPS instruments, it's near the Academy Road exist of I-95).

A deciding game, if necessary, will be at the same and site next Wednesday.

  Epiphanny Prince Officially Done at Rutgers

  In recent weeks, there had been some buzz, though unfounded and unconfirmed, in media room talk along the WNBA trail that perhaps former Rutgers' star Epiphanny Prince might be having second thoughts about last June's decision to bypass her senior and play in Europe to get a better jump start to prepare for a WNBA career.

  A cash incentive was looming for Prince, who desires to move her family in Brooklyn to a better residential area.

 Well, it's all academic now  because on Wednesday a release was emailed announcing Prince had signed with an agency, which immediate ends her eligibility with the Scarlet Knkights, though that may have already been history, depending on NCAA fine print involving those declarations.

   There is an interview with Prince in the New York Times and perhaps elsewhere.

  WNBA Playoff Dates

  For those of you with long-range planning, which the Guru was attempting, who have been unable to find the precise dates for the WNBA postseason, which will occur later than non-Olympic year normal, here they are thanks to the Guru's friends in the home office.

    Incidentally, should it occur, Phoenix is a lot cooler when October rolls around for those who could afford a mini-vacation coupled with watching game in the desert.

    Early rounds are best-of-three before the best-of-five championship series begins.

  The final round, almost seems like NBA early rounds style, in terms of spacing, but why quibble.

  Here's the dates:

  Conference Semifinals (Highest seeds home for last two).  First Set (teams obviously to be determined)  Wednesday-Sept. 16, Friday-Sept 18 (for co-religionist that is the evening start of the Jewish New Year), and, if necessary, Sunday, Sept. 20. Second Set: Thursday,-Sept. 17, Saturday-Sept. 19, and, if neceesary Monday, Sept. 21.

  Conference Finals (highest seeds home for last two): Wednesday-Sept. 23; Friday-Sept. 25, and if necessary, Saturday-Sept. 26 (which might be the first time in a long time a potential Game 3 comes back-to-back, but we may be wrong. The other religious date in that period, incidentally, comes just afterwaqrds.

   WNBA Finals with highest seed home for first two and last: Tuesday-Sept. 29, Thursday-Oct. 1, Sunday-Oct. 4, Wednesday-Oct. 7,  Friday-Oct. 9 (one week before NCAA midnight madness). And no, in the face of economic cutbacks, the league will not be busing between  cities, although some media types may have to resort to hitchhiking and finding WNBA fans willing to provide housing. (Just a little Guru humor).

    While on the topic of the WNBA, when it comes to postseason awards, the league, if it can find a sponsor, may want to think about establishing a come-back player award, as the other pro leagues do. There is at least one worthy candidate, especially if that player's team makes the playoffs. Most improved, which already has a building list, would not be the right fit for that individual.

                                Guru Life

    No, the Guru, does not twitter, although if you think he should, shoot him a one-sentence email requesting as such and perhaps if a demand is noted, there will be a chance of mind.

    And he only does facebook status when reacting to media (and SID, among others) friends' status.

   But if he did, here are some personal pearls that one could read right now.

   Why does it get wet and soggy every approaching Wednesday-Thursday darkness-into-sunrise when the Guru, returning home, considers putting out minimal trash for the weekly collection?

   In building a copy of the ITunes- Essential year-by-year duplication (1955-95 to date), among lots of other music --Yes, Dawn, Blige is in the device -- the Guru discovered several several things while exercising his guilty-pleasure: Upon seeing most titles, the melody immediately popped into his head until he hit the 1990s; Top-75s give or take a year are estimated at 3-4 hours per playlist through the early 1970s before jumping to well over 4-5 hours. Credit fror changing the singles-recording culture goes to  Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, Iron Butterfly's God of Divida, and the Doors' long-version Light My Fire, not to be confused with Jose Feliciano, who's also on board.

The Guru now has more music on the Ipod (160 gig with lots of space left) than estimated minutes left on the planet to listen to it. But hey, as our friend Jayda Evans in Seattle noted in a tell-tale post on her blog in the Northwest several years ago, at least he's prepared to share on planes, and boats, and trains (Dionne Warwick title) as well as at parties or other road trips. 

    The Guru's waitress friends in one of his (real-late) nightly diners accepted assignments to text-message him in very early afternoon Thursday so he can stop and do finances at the bank and get a long-overdue haircut now that his barber (a female btw) is back from vacation. (She's off Sun-Wed.)

   Incidentally, a kitchen-accident posted by a media-type friend of ours in Central Jersey on her facebook status inspired the Guru to order spaghetti and meatballs at 4 p.m. along with italian cream-filled pastry (begins with a C but was afraid of a making a spelling error) for desert. (Hint: Welcome back from vacation).

     That dining condition is caused by five-straight nights of intense desk deadline work which leaves the Guru out cold most of the next day, unless a situation requires otherwise.

  The Guru disovered that if he actually sits on a pillow on the bed when typing on his laptop (blue-ray disk btw), situated alongside a nice-cheap stand enabling quick reaction to write on breaking stories or to watch HD movies, he can actually see the screen better and write more efficiently and quicker.

       Finally, in the event the Seattle Storm are home the next day or so and a short guy shows up in the arena dropping the Guru's name, that would be our vacationing Phillycom-blogger friend Jonathan Tannenwald who is on limited expenses. Feel free, with the Guru's permission, to feed him.

    Come back from vacation, John Altavilla, The Guru can't keep these folks entertained forever, if that's what you call this stuff.

     Notice none of the above, not counting a plea to the Hartford Courant immediatelly above this, comes close to being under the 140-character limit required by Twitter.

    And with that,a  goodnight and good morning.

    -- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Top Seeded Columbia Blue, highlighted by St. Joseph's stars, and No. 5 Red, dominated by Division II West Chester players, have advanced to the finals of the Philadelphia Department of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League.

 Columbia Blue, which finished the regular summer competition at 10-1, beat No. 6 Vegas Gold, 74-68, in one semifinal Monday night, while No. 5 Red upset No. 2 Kelly Green, 45-44, at Parkwood Youth Organization in Northeast Philadelphia at DunksFerry and Mechanicsville Roads near the Academy Road Exit of I-95.

The winners will meet at Parkwood in the first of a best-of-three at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night, with Game 2 to be played at the same time and site Monday night. If necessary, a deciding game will be played a week from Wednesday night.

A year ago, the performance of Drexel players in the league became an good omen for what turned into a run to a first-ever Colonial Athletic Association title and NCAA bid in the winter.

Judging by Monday's performance, th future could be bright for St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin.

Incoming Hawks freshman Ashley Robinson had 15 points for Columbia Blue, while senior Brittany Ford scored 12, and incoming freshman Shelby Smith scored 11.

The overall leader, however, was Cheyney's Angel Stephens, who scored 16. She was a first-ever last-minute insertion allowed by commissioner David Kessler.

"Brittany Schmelz of Swarthmore hadn't played all summer and they asked if they could make a change and I decided, `Why not?" he said. "Stephens is very good."

Two other Cheyney players are also on the team: Angel Henderson and Charnelle Taylor.

Columbia dominated on the boards and rallied from a 57-50 deficit in the second half, launching a 16-1 run.

Vegas Gold got 17 points from former Holy Family star Kelly Killion, while recent La Salle grad Antonio Gale scored 16 points, Drexel's Marissa Crane scored 12, and recent Holy Family grad Melissa Brooks scored nine.

In the other semifinal, Red rallied from an early second-half deficit of nine points. The team  had rallied from a 15-point deficit in the quarterfinals against Gold.

Red's Shamyra Hammond of West Chester scored 12 points, Columbia University's Megan Griffith scored 8, West Chester's Natalie Winters scored seven and recent La Salle grad Margaret Elderton scored six points.

St. Bonaventure's Dana Mitchell, who won the league scoring title, had nine points for Kelly Green, as did St. Joseph's Katie Kuester, the daughter of new NBA Detroit Pistons coach John Kuester. Princeton's Laura Johnson scored eight points.

-- Mel

Former Arizona and Long Beach coach Joan Bonvicini will be named the new women's coach at Seatte on Tuesday a source familiar with the hire independently confirmed to the Guru.

But here's the AP story (since updated in the following new version) that caused the Guru to check out the report:

By TIM BOOTH
 AP Sports Writer

   SEATTLE — Joan Bonvicini, one of only 18 coaches in Division
I history with more than 600 victories, will be hired as the new
women’s basketball coach at Seattle University, a person
familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Monday.
    The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the
school had yet to announce the hiring. A news conference has
been scheduled for Tuesday morning.
    Bonvicini will be inheriting a Seattle program about to
begin its first full season playing a Division I schedule as
part of the Redhawks transition back to the top level of college
athletics.
    It’s Bonvicini’s first job since being fired in March 2008
after 17 seasons at Arizona and a career record of 612-294.
    Her time in Tucson started strong, helping lead the Wildcats
to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1996 and seven
overall with Arizona. But in her final three seasons, Bonvicini
struggled with a combined 29-63 record, while rival Arizona
State began its assent to being one of the top programs in the
Pac-10.
    She finished with a 287-223 record at Arizona.
    Before going to Arizona, Bonvicini had her greatest success
at Long Beach State. She helped the 49ers become one of the top
powers on the West Coast, going to 10 straight NCAA tournaments
and a pair of Final Four appearances in 1987 and 1988.
    That second Final Four was played in Tacoma, Wash. Now
Bonvicini will be returning to the Northwest trying to raise the
profile of the Redhawks program.
    Seattle went 20-9 last season under Dan Kriley, playing a
mixed schedule of Division I, II and NAIA teams and picked up
victories over Division I schools San Jose State, Portland and
UC Davis. It was the Redhawks’ first 20-win season in 16 years.
    Kriley was fired last month after going 77-59 in his five
seasons at Seattle. But with the program about to embark on a
full Division I schedule, the school decided to go after a
bigger name to help jump start the reclassification process.
    In April, the school hired Washington assistant and former
UCLA star Cameron Dollar as its men’s basketball coach,
replacing Joe Callero who took the head job at Cal Poly.
   

Book on Yow to be published

This arrived via email earlier in the day on Monday.

By Mel Greenberg

 The last time the New York Liberty changed coaches in 2004, the team had come off a difficult road swing prior to an easing of the schedule when  Carol Blazejowski decided to replace Richie Adubato with assistant coach Pat Coyle.

On Friday, a change was made with Blazejowski lettting Coyle go and elevating assistant Anne Donovan to interim head coach, for now, prior to the start of a challenging road swing.

The move creates an opening for an assistant to replace Donovan and while Blazejowski wasn't offering any names, a likely appointee could be former Sancramento coach Jenny Boucek who was let go by the Monarchs late last month.

Boucek was an assistant to Donovan when the Seattle Storm won the WNBA title in 2004.

Coyle's ouster also impacts the search for the staff who will work for Geno Auriemma at the Olympics in London in 2012. Many considered her on the short list of two required candidates from the WNBA - with others being Connecticut's Mike Thibault, an assistant to Anne Donovan in Beijing; and possibly new Minnesota coach Jennifer Gillom.

In a sense, Coyle was doomed when  Donovan, who coached the United States to a gold medal ,  joined the staff prior to the start of the season.

It's not that Donovan was seeking Coyle's job, but in having the storied Hall of Famer in the building, Blazejowski could make a move if she felt it necessary based on the team's performance.

Otherwise, considering that last year's playoff participiants - the champion Detroit Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks - are also outside the postseason loop at the moment, the Liberty front office head might have waited a bit longer.

All three teams still have a shot at replacing the teams just inside the cutoff point. With a little more than month left, an injury or hot hand can quickly change the projection.

In one way, Donovan's availability occurred at the right moment for the Liberty.

Had North Carolina State handled the coaching search a bit differently after Kay Yow lost her courageous battle to breast cancer, Donovan might have landed with the Wolf Pack.

The Richie Adubato era actually ended with Coyle's ouster, the first time she has been fired since entering the coaching ranks.

A former star in the Philadelphia Catholic League with her twin sister Mary at West Catholic, Coyle went on to also star at Rutgers, finishing as a member of the AIAW national champions in 1982.

Her first college job was as an assistant at Miami under Lin Dunn, who is now coaching the Eastern-leading Indiana Fever. Coyle also worked at her alma mater under Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Theresa Grentz and also at St. Joseph's under Jim Foster, who is now at Ohio State.

She then got her first head coaching job, turning around Loyola of Maryland's program to win a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title and ensuing NCAA tournament bid.

Coyle will probably not be unemployed for long if the right college job opens after next season. A year ago, several schools with openings had interest but were unable to pry her loose from an existing contract in New York.

Of course, at that point Marianne Stanley was two years removed as an assistant in New York, having moved on to Rutgers and then to Los Angeles as an assistant to Michael Cooper, who is departing for Southern Cal after the season.

Although Donovan's title is of an interim nature, she will likely gain the job in her own right if the Liberty make the playoffs, similar to the way Coyle evolved after being a mid-summer replacement.

But if not, Stanley could be available if she doesn't succeed Cooper and would consider returning to New York.

And should that happen, consider this oddity.

With former Rutgers stars Kia Vaughn and Essence Carson on the Liberty roster and the possibility that Epiphanny Prince could be similarly drafted next spring, Stanley would be reunited with the three mainstays of the Scarlet Knights' run to the NCAA championship game in 2007.

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation Women's NCAA Summer League playoffs got under way Wednesday in quarterfinal action with one minor and one major upset in terms of seeds in the quarterfinals at Northeast High.

 In the major upset of note, sixth-seeded Vegas edged No. 3 Lime, 58-56, while No. No. 5 Red slipped past Gold, 71-68.

No. 1 seed Columbia Blue prevailed over No. 8 Cardinal, 62-54, and No. 2 Kelly beat Royal, 58-54.

The action moves to semifinals Monday night at Parkwood Youth Organization, DunksFerry & Mechanicsville Roads, which is a few blocks away from the I-95 Academy Road exit in Northeast Philadelphia. Nearby landmarks are the Junod Playground and St. Anselm's Church and School.

Since summer has finally decided to arrive, the Guru is told that the facility, which will also be the site of the finals, is air-conditioned.

On Monday, Columbia and Vegas will meet at 7 p.m. before Red and Kelly meet at 8:15.

The best of three finals will begin next Wednesday night, continue to the following Monday, and then, if necessary, the following Wednesday.

"After seeing these teams all summer, none of the winners would surprise me," commissioner David Kessler said prior to the start of the playoffs. "These teams were that close to each other. And it is interesting because you have a mix of (NCAA) Dvision I players with D-IIs and D-IIIs, some players just want to test their skills while others always are out to win because of their competitive nature."

Incidentally, Kessler was suppose to be heading for retirement from running the league after the season, but his farewell tour may ultimately exceed the annual adios concerts by the Eagles rock group.

The Guru didn't make it to his high school alma mater live Wednesday night, but the stats report notes that in the big upset, La Salle's Ashley Gale and led Vegas with 13 points and Drexel's Marissa Crane scored 12.

The Vegas roster also consists of such notables as recently-graduated George Washington star Lisa Steele of South Jersey, Drexel's Jennifer Stjarnstrom,and  Holy Family graduates Kelly Killion and Melissa Brooks.

Lime's Gabriella Marginean scored 21. The Drexel star is the reigning Colonial Athletic Association player of the year after leading the Dragons to a first-ever conference title and NCAA appearance. Recent Penn grad Carrie Biemer scored 14 points. The squad also includes Drexel's Alison Lupariello, Penn State's Renee Womack and La Salle's Michele McCaughern along with Penn's Caitlon Slover, former Penn star Katarina Lackner, and incoming Drexel freshman Taylor Wootton.

 Incidentally, under NCAA regulations, only two players from an existing D-I roster can play on the same team in summer leagues but incoming freshmen are exempt from the limitation.

In the Red win, recently-graduate La Salle star Margaret Elderton scored 26 points and West Chester's Megan Stewart scored 13. The Red team roster is dominated by West Chester players such as Mary Kate Serratelli, Natalie Winters, Alexandra Lennon, Lauren Commodari and Shamyra Hammond. La Salle's Chelsea Conner is also on the squad as are Drexel's Ayana Lee and incoming freshman Fiona Flanagan.

St. Joseph's Ashley Logue scored 21 points for Gold, while former La Salle star Davineia  Payne had 14 points. The team is Gold is coached by former St. Joseph's star Tracy Harmon. La Salle seniors Tara Lapetina and Jamie Walsh are also on the team as are a trio of Lehigh stars: Tricia Smith, Becky Guman and Alexa Williams, whose Mountain Hawks won the Patriot League last season. St. Joseph's Ashley Prim and Mireia Vila, an incoming freshman, are other players on Gold as is Princeton's Addie Micir.

In the Columbia Blue win, St. Joseph's Amy Gillespie scored 20 points and the Hawks' Shelby Smith, an incoming freshman, scored 13. The squad also has incoming Hawk freshman Ashley Robinson and St. Joseph's senior Brittany Ford. Swarthmore's Kathryn Stockbower is another player as is her winter teammate Brittany Schmelz. Former Holy Family star Kate Baum and Philadelphia U. senior Andrea Notta are two other members, as are Cheyney seniors Charnelle Taylor and Angel Henderson.

Cardinal is dominated by Holy Family players, who lost their first five and then won seven straight in making the playoffs. Part of the rough start was a delayed notice of the league to incoming freshmen in the wake of Tigers coach Mike McLaughlin's move as the new Penn coach and the ensuing hunt that occurred for his successor.

Lehigh's Kristen Iafolla led Cardinal with 13 points, while Holy Family's Lauren Peters scored 10 points. Tigers star Catherine Carr is among the slew of players from her school, while Lehigh's Emily Gratch is also on the team.

In the other quarterfinal result, Kelly's Laura Johnson of Princeton scored 12, while St. Bonaventure's Dana Mitchell and St. Joseph's Katie Kuester, the daughter of new NBA Detroit Piston's coach John Kuester, scored 10 each.

The Kelly roster also contains Drexel incoming freshman Hollie Mershon.

Royal's Aly Byorick of Lehigh scored 13 points and West Chester star Dana Weems scored nine points. Lehigh's Courtney Dentler is also on the team along with a slew of West Chester players, which forced the league to actually field two squads dominated by Golden Rams stars.

That's for this report.

 -- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

 It looks as if the WNBA couldn't overcome the media coverage of the dominant presence of University of Connecticut alumnae at last weekend's All-Star game at the Mohegan Sun the pro league might as well join the crowd.

And so it was that All-Stars Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), who was a candidate for weekend MVP honors, and Asjha Jones of the Connecticut Sun were made the East and West players of the week Monday as the WNBA stretch drive gets under way.

Bird and Jones were two of four starters on the 2002 unbeaten UConn squad that played Sunday along with Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash.

Weekend Leftovers

Here's some notes that were still hanging around and managed to escape the mental reach of the Guru in compiling the previous post.

As if there isn't enough UConn stories, the Guru ran into former Hartford Courant sportswriter Jeff Goldberg, who used to cover the Huskies women before moving on to baseball and the Boston Red Sox.

Goldberg is now living in Beantown where he is writing a book on the Big East title game of 2001 when Bird hit the mega-shot that gave UConn the conference title over Notre Dame. The Irish went on to get revenge in the NCAA semifinals and ultimately beat Purdue for the national title that season.

He promises to send along more info in the near future.

In other news, the streak of Philadelphia representation in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductions continue, even if by a small bit this time.

Teresa Edwards, one of six picks for the new class, played for a very brief period in the City of Brotherly Love for the Philadelphia Rage then under coach Anne Donovan before the ABL collapsed under bankruptcy in the December, 1998.

Meanwhile, the Guru has heard from the Immaculata folks who informed the movie about the 1972 title -- Our Lady of Victory -- is very much alive and the goal for the flick to hit cinema houses is targeted between October and next March.

The Philadelphia Department of Recreation's NCAA Women's Summer League will begin playoffs Wednesday night.

The Guru was on the desk Monday and wasn't on hand for the regular finals to learn who qualified. Contact will be made with the commish on Tuesday so information can be passed along.

The format starts with eight teams Wednesday, quarterfinals on Monday and then a best-of-three finals beginning next Wednesday.

That's it for the monent.

  -- Mel