Women's summer league basketball starts June 19 at STCC.
Stacy Boisvert, here shooting a jumper over Westfield State player Tania Ortiz, and the Springfield Slamm won the Greater Springfield Women's Summer Showcase last season.In this the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the Greater Springfield Women’s Summer Showcase is expanding in its 10th year.
The women’s summer league, part of Tony Pettaway’s Greater Springfield Pro-Am Basketball League, is jumping from six teams to eight when the season starts June 19 at Springfield Technical Community College.
GSWSS commissioner Liz Lafond said while adding teams is good, getting girls into Scibelli Hall gymnasium to witness the atmosphere and let the players be role models for them is more important.
“It’s almost a WNBA-type atmosphere and we encourage young people and AAU teams to come to the games – they’re all free,” Lafond said. “Let them see those female role models show up in their business suits and their briefcases, go into the ladies’ room and come out onto the court.”
Spectators who come to the games Tuesday and Thursday nights will see a wide range of players who have left their mark on the women’s game.
Kara Wolters, one of the few women who has won championships at the collegiate (Connecticut), professional (WNBA) and international (Olympics) levels, is back to lend her assistance on and off the court.
The Showcase wraps up with the Kara Wolters Dream Big Tournament.
“To have a Kara Wolters committed to helping us develop these young women with her camp and be with us as a player, the legacy continues,” Pettaway said.
Kristen Wolters-Mahoney, Kara’s sister who played at the University of Rhode Island, will join her on the Springfield Swift, along with Eileen Mastrio, who coached Kara Wolters, Sue Bird, Rebecca Lobo Swin Cash and Cindy Blodgett professionally with the Springfield Spirit.
The team includes the ageless June Walton, who at 54 can still run with the best of them.
There will be plenty of young talent as well, including Springfield natives Jasmine Lovejoy (Missouri Southern State University guard) and Esther Wallace (Fairleigh Dickinson center), plus American International’s Michelle Lafond, daughter of Liz.
“Michelle’s a standout player in her own right at AIC and the valedictorian,” Pettaway said. “She’s the student-athlete – one who boasts numbers on the court and is in the number one seat at graduation.
“There have been major-league strides made by women both in sports and academics, and we have a part of that development and responsibility in our league, not just recreational fun.”
The Springfield Slamm, led by AIC assistant coach Stacy Boisvert, won the title over the Westfield State Owls last year. Westfield State will be called Motley’s Crew this year and will look to get back to the title game.