City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)

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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Amy Ngo is fully aware of the perception about her team.

The Upper Dublin girls basketball senior knows the Cardinals are never anyone’s pick for a “fast” team, with their methodical style on both sides of the floor not the most prolific, but it’s hard to argue the results. That’s the perception, anyway. Once this season starts, UD wants to change that perception.

With a few newcomers adding a jolt they haven’t had before, the Cardinals’ veterans are looking for big things this winter.

“We’re known in the past to slow things down, walk the ball up and run plays,” Ngo said. “We’re a boring team to watch normally. But we have a lot of athleticism with the two freshmen coming in and the rest of us, we know what we’re doing and now we can speed things up.”

UD went 18-11 and reached the second round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament last season, by no means a small accomplishment given the uncertainty going into the 2022-23 campaign. The Cardinals weren’t sure when, or even if, Ngo would be coming back off a devastating knee injury, and they only had one other starter back and plenty of other roles to fill.

Losing forward Colleen Besachio, who transferred to Archbishop Wood after a terrific freshman year, hurt for sure, but this offseason provided a lot more stability. Amy Ngo was healthy, Megan Ngo had a tremendous summer playing with her Comets GUAA team and senior twins Nora and Brighid Brady proved themselves as varsity contributors in their junior seasons.

“I’m excited to have this many people back,” Brighid Brady said. “I’m looking for us to play well together as a team because we’re all so well connected from playing last season.”

That gave UD four starter-caliber players already, and when the freshmen came in, the full picture became more clear.

“Definitely excited about the season — what we’re going to lack in size we’re going to make up for in basketball IQ,” Cardinals coach Morgan Funsten said. “We have some big-time athleticism coming in from the freshman class, and [we’re] looking for leadership from the girls who have been here for a while around them.”

Amy Ngo, who committed to play at Holy Family in June, enters her fourth season as a starter for Upper Dublin. She played in 16 games last year after returning to the court in January following knee reconstruction in April 2022 and feels much stronger and more confident after her summer with her own Comets 17U GUAA team.

Her younger sister more than held it down last year, earning second-team All-Suburban One League Liberty honors. Megan, who picked up her first Division I offer from Fairleigh Dickinson late in the summer, may only be a sophomore, but Funsten sees her in the same light he does any of the three seniors in terms of leadership.

“Your point guard is always a natural leader and Meg was special last year, but she’s taken her game to another level this year,” Funsten said. “She’s such a competitor and such a winner, we’re lucky she’s only a sophomore because she’s wise beyond her years and improved her game so much in the offseason.”

Nora and Brighid Brady both made the most of their first turn as varsity players. Nora became a fixture in the starting lineup, giving the team terrific defense and timely outside shooting, while Brighid opened the season as a starter and moved into a bench role when Amy Ngo came back, also showing a knack for long-range shooting.

The twins, who played with Fencor’s 17U team this summer, will remain teammates beyond this year after committing to Neumann University on Oct. 27. Going through a full regular season and the playoffs was an eye-opening experience for both of them.

“The competition you play is insane in states, so that prepares you for the league the next season because our league is normally pretty tough, too,” Nora said. “It helps us understand you have to get more physical and be tough.”

Funsten also didn’t want to undersell the graduation of Alaina Sanders and Lili Kleiman, two soccer players turned guards who bought into their roles as hard-working defenders.

The Cardinals know what they’re getting from the Bradys and the Ngos. But it’s the two freshmen that have both the coaching staff and the returning players most excited.

Tamia Clark brings a dynamic UD just hasn’t had in Funsten’s tenure, the 5-foot-5 freshman standing out this fall with her athletic ability and her speed. Megan Ngo, who is an outstanding passer, is already figuring out different ways to get Clark the ball as she flies up the floor or darts around in the halfcourt.

“Tamia Clark coming in as a freshman, she’s so dynamic,” Funsten said. “We’ve always had really skilled players at Upper Dublin, but we haven’t always had the most athletic team. What she and Bridget DiMartile bring to the table will allow us to be a little more versatile and a little more up tempo than we’ve been in the past.”

Bridget DiMartile, 5-11, brings her own unique dynamic as a three-sport athlete from one of Upper Dublin’s most athletic families. She was a starting striker all season for the soccer team, and she’ll play lacrosse in the spring, alongside her sister Anna, a junior who has committed to the University of Florida as a defender. Their older sister Meghan was a four-time PIAA champion in the backstroke and is a sophomore swimmer at the University of Texas, and brother Jake is a senior on Wisconsin’s swimming and diving team.

“She’s juggling a lot of things,” Funsten said. “Being a freshman school-wise is already a big change, but also playing three sports at varsity at a high level; she’s got a hand in a lot of things, but that also makes it exciting to see how much improvement she’s going to make by the end of the season.”

Megan Ngo is eager to get both freshmen acclimated to the team’s systems, but the sophomore also said she and her senior teammates don’t want Clark or DiMartile to feel like they have to do too much.

“The biggest thing we have to continue to reiterate to them is that we’re going to make mistakes — the transition from middle school to high school is big, we were all there,” Megan Ngo said. “We all know what it was like, and it's up to us to help them through it and let them know we’re always there for them and have their backs.”

“They're going to have a lot of pressure on them, so we have to be there for them when they need us,” Nora Brady said.

The Cardinals are looking to contend for the SOL Liberty title and qualify for the SOL tournament. After that, the goal is qualifying for states, as it is every year, and also making a run in the District 1 bracket. 

“We’re pretty much ready,” Amy Ngo said.

“We know looking ahead we can be good, but it’s all about this season and taking it one step at a time,” Megan Ngo said.