City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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FORT WASHINGTON — Tamia Clark and Bridget Dimartile aren’t Upper Dublin girls basketball historians.

Still the Cardinals’ freshmen had enough familiarity to know which games are circled every year on the calendar.

“I knew most of the rivalries,” Clark said. “I watched the PW game last year, so I kind of knew what to expect. You kind of just find out as you go along.” 

They didn’t need a lesson about why Thursday night was a big one. The two youngsters showed well in a Suburban One Liberty Division game against Plymouth Whitemarsh, a 53-15 Cardinals victory.

Upper Dublin lost seven straight to PW prior to an upset win in last season’s district playoffs. It seems to have signaled an early change of the guard in the division.

The Cardinals have followed up last season’s run to the District 1-6A quarters and PIAA second round with a 5-0 start. That includes Liberty wins over Quakertown, Wissahickon, Abington and Thursday’s dominant victory over PW.

“We knew they were going to be a good team from past years, so we just came out like it was any other game and just worked hard,” Dimartile said.

Dimartile and Clark have been on Upper Dublin head coach Morgan Funsten’s radar for a while. They teamed together on the middle school team the past two seasons, reaching the championship game a year ago.

Clark, a 5-7 wing/forward with a knack for putting the ball through the hoop, scored 21 points in a big win over Abington on Tuesday that broke a four-game losing streak in the series. She was a factor once again Thursday as she scored nine points.

She first caught Funsten’s eye when she showed up to the program’s summer camp as a fifth grader.

“She was very good and by seventh grade, she turned into a star,” Funsten said.

Dimartile has had multiple siblings come through the school and head off to Division I athletics. Her brother Jake swims at Texas, her sister Meghan swims at Texas, and her other sister Anna is a junior on the UD girls lacrosse team who is committed to Florida. 

Bridget is a three-sport athlete herself whose top sport is also lacrosse. On the hardwood, she’s a 5-10 wing with length, athleticism and a nice outside shot. She had six points off the bench in Thursday’s win.

“She doesn’t play a ton of basketball, but as you can see when she gets on the court she’s an eye popper,” Funsten said.

The freshmen are meshing nicely with a veteran group led by seniors Amy Ngo, a Holy Family commit, and twins Brighid and Nora Brady, both committed to Neumann. Funsten groups Ngo’s younger sister Megan Ngo, a sophomore who started last season, with that core as well as a player experienced beyond her years.

Amy Ngo led a balanced effort Thursday with 12 points and six steals. After Clark’s nine, Megan followed with eight points (and three charges taken) and Kaitlyn Zacharia chipped in eight as well, knocking down a pair of threes.

“We’re not the biggest team,” Funsten said. “We weren’t the biggest team last year, and we’re still not but we definitely have some talented young players and we have some great experience coming back. Tonight what I loved about us was our balanced scoring.”

The vets have made sure to instill confidence in their younger teammates early on in the season. Clark and Dimartile both aid they are having a lot of fun.

“They lift you up on everything and it could be really easy to get nervous, but they make it so much easier,” Dimartile said.

The freshmen haven’t been frazzled by the jump to the high school level. They both attended workouts with the team as eighth graders and realized they would have a place in the rotation when minutes kept coming their way in the fall league.

Clark played up an age group with Megan Ngo on the Comets 15U squad this past summer. She’s embraced any battles inside that have come her way. Dimartile similarly noted grabbing rebounds, playing physical and getting out in transition are things she provides.

“I think I bring a lot of toughness and strength, just battling and grabbing boards and rebounding and getting up the floor,” Clark said. “It’s easy buckets for our team.”

PW’s won the last four division titles. Upper Dublin’s last division crown came the season before that run started in 2019, when the Cardinals shared the title with Abington.

Funsten has a group of seniors looking to leave their mark on the program. They know the youngsters will help them do that.

“(The seniors) are really setting the tone for how important this is for them, and I think it’s contagious for the freshman and they’re progressing at a warp speed,” Funsten said. “We’re excited about where we are as a team, and we think we can get a lot better too.”

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Upper Dublin 53, Plymouth Whitemarsh 15

By Quarter:

Plymouth Whitemarsh: 6 | 2 | 3 |4 || 15

Upper Dublin: 12 | 14 | 19 | 8 || 53

Scoring

Plymouth Whitemarsh: Marissa Perez 4, Mckenna Winland 4, AJ Avery 3, Joslyn Perez 2, Taylor Williams 2

Upper Dublin: Amy Ngo 12, Tamia Clark 9, Kaitlyn Zacharia 8, Megan Ngo 8, Brighid Brady 6, Bridget Dimartile 6, Nora Brady 2, Julia Scullen 2.