City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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HORSHAM — Basketball, at its most basic core, is supposed to bring fun.

It is, after all, a game. It can also be a distraction, an outlet, a bonding agent or just something to look forward to a couple times per week in the summer because it’s still just that: a lot of fun.

For the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Summer Basketball League’s team of college graduates, it was a twice-per-week excuse to stay attached to a game that still means a lot to all of them.

Getting a championship out of it was just a bonus, unexpected as it may have been.

“It’s something that’s been such a huge part of our lives and for me, it’s something to look forward to,” Jen Kremp, a 2022 Dickinson grad, said. “It’s a chance not only to play with some familiar faces but also be on a team with them. Being an alum, it’s still just as fun and as competitive.”

The alumni Pink team downed Sky Blue, the team comprising Holy Family’s current roster, 65-56, in a well-played game to close out the league’s 29th season on Tuesday night at the Kelly Bolish Gym in Horsham. Pink’s championship run saw the alumni roster, the core of the group winning for a second straight year, down 4th seeded Red (Chestnut Hill College) in the quarterfinals, top seeded and unbeaten Black (Jefferson) in the semis and the second seed Sky Blue in the final.

The alumni Pink team poses after winning the Philadelphia/Suburban Women's Summer League championship on Wednesday. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

Kremp, who hit arguably the biggest shot in Jenkintown history as a high school senior, technically won her fourth straight league title on Tuesday. She was with Holy Family’s team in 2019 alongside her twin sister Ashley to help fill out the roster, then played in 2021 with USciences’ group and the last two years with the alums.

It’s the team’s two USciences alums that have really kept the idea going. Taylor Hamm (Perkiomen Valley) and Shannon May (Archbishop Wood), who both used their fifth year of eligibility to play for the Devils in 2021-22 — the program’s last before the university merged with St. Joe’s — and 2022 Chestnut Hill College graduate Cassie Sebold (Archbishop Wood) emptied their contacts to find anyone local enough and crazy enough to still lace up against some players five or six years younger than them.

“I know some good basketball players,” May said. “All I have to do is ask my friends, and we just seem to be really good every year.”

Sensing a theme in their playoff run, Hamm and May conspired on Tuesday afternoon to have even more fun with it. In a classic case of pulling it all together at the last minute, sort of like their playoff run, the two produced team warm-up shirts adorned with the word “SLAYERS” on the front.

May, who enthusiastically noted the “drip font” for the printing, put it all together while Hamm explained the genesis behind it. This summer, the group not only came together for a couple games per week, they’d usually go out together afterward.

“It’s been a running joke between all of us,” Hamm said.

As each member of the team, most of them coming right from their jobs, walked into the gym and got their shirt, there was a strong mixture of disbelief and laughter.

“I walk in and everyone is wearing these ‘Slayers’ shirts and my jaw just dropped,” Sebold said.

Sebold and May won two state titles together at Archbishop Wood and even as fierce rivals for five years in the CACC, they stayed best friends so it was really a no-brainer they’d play together again in the league once they were done college. That opened enough doors that between the two of them, they were able to bring in enough former teammates and friends that knew each other, but had never had the chance to be on the same side.

A few members of last year’s winning team weren’t able to come back this summer, so the alums added a few newcomers. Abbey Spratt (C.B. West) and Lauren Crim (Lansdale Catholic), Sebold’s teammates at CHC, were new adds despite not having played with anyone else on the team before, Erin Morgan (Archbishop Wood) was a first-year player in the league after an injury kept her out last summer following her career at La Salle and Vanessa Amsinger rounded out the new faces this year.

Aside from May, Sebold, Hamm and Kremp, Drexel alum Kate Connolly (Souderton) and Cabrini alum Lexie Edwards (C.B. South) formed the remainder of the repeaters from last year’s squad. 

Due to several factors, including NCAA regulations and most programs running their own summer team activities, the summer league isn’t open to current Division I players. Connolly, who played with May and Sebold for two years at Wood before finishing high school at Souderton and then playing at Drexel, didn’t have the opportunity to play until last summer but has enjoyed getting back on the court in a more relaxed setting.

“I know all of them either from playing with them or against them, and I think we’re all here to have a good time,” Connolly said. “We really do have a good time, it’s a fun league, it’s good competition.”

Unlike every other player in the league, there’s no next college season to get ready for. The alums can show up for their game, ideally get home in one piece, go to work the next day and repeat it a few days later.

“We’ve all said it’s so much better not having coaches who are coming here to watch you,” May said. “I know I did not play well in summer league when my coaches were here to see me.”

“If someone makes a mistake and we all just laugh about it,” Sebold added. “Then the next play, we’ll do something good, so it’s no pressure and we’re all having fun and getting a good workout in.”

Holy Family’s group played very well all summer, bringing a lot of effort, unselfish play and exuberant celebrations on a weekly basis. Anujin Dashdorj, a rising senior, was fantastic in Tuesday’s final with a game-high 24 points and with four starters returning, the Tigers are looking to be a factor in the CACC this winter.

It’s a fair bet that no team laughed as much as the alums did all summer. Sure, they cheered and clapped for the makes but it was some of the botched plays that got them going the most.

“This was the highlight of my week,” Hamm said. “We play so well together because we don’t care if anybody messes up. You miss a shot, you miss a shot, it’s whatever.”

Edwards, a 2021 Cabrini grad, had a good summation of it.

“I don’t think we ran a single play all summer,” Edwards said. “There was a lot of looking at each other until someone wanted to take a shot.”

May and Sebold jokingly said they may need to have tryouts and make cuts next summer, neither of them sure they’d even make their own cut list, with a few players heading into their last college seasons expressing interest in staying in the league as alumni. As long as they’re still local — and still feel up to it — when registration opens next year, the team’s core wants to defend its title.

“I said we can’t stop until we lose,” May said. “We’re all still competitive, we want to win.”

When the game was done, the “Slayers” shirts went back on for a group photo then stayed on for a final team postgame outing of the summer. 

“It’s fun, that’s the bottom line,” Hamm said. “I do it because it’s so much fun to keep playing with all these other girls.”