City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ASTON — Emily DuPont didn’t plan on playing college basketball. 

While still in her years at Great Valley High School, DuPont played both hoops and softball, but it was the diamond that was her athletic focus; she played travel softball, not basketball, and was being recruited by colleges as early as her sophomore year for her pitching abilities.

“Basketball was just something that kept me in shape,” she said. “I loved playing it of course, but [...] I wanted to play softball in college. Basketball wasn’t even on my radar."

So it’s quite amusing to DuPont that three years after her high school years came to an end, she’s given up softball entirely to focus on hoops, something she never would have expected.

“Not at all, not at all,” she said. “I just can’t believe I’m playing college basketball.”

Not only is DuPont playing basketball, she’s starting for Neumann University’s squad — and having her best season yet. The junior wing forward showed just why she’s made hoops her focus with an 18-point, eight-rebound outing on Monday night against Marywood to help Neumann into the Atlantic East Conference semifinals for the first time with an 84-47 win.

It’s the first time since half the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) split off to form the Atlantic East in 2018-19, the first year of Mary Beth McNichol’s tenure, that the Knights have made it past the first round of the conference playoffs. They’ll play at Immaculata in the semifinals on Wednesday.

DuPont scored all 11 of her first-half points against Marywood during a six-minute span late in the first half, one which saw Neumann take a 20-15 edge and turn it into a 41-20 advantage on one of her 3-pointers just before halftime. 

The gap hit 30 early midway through the third quarter as Neumann cruised to its second-largest winning margin of the season. The Knights beat the Lancers by more in their third meeting this season (37) than they did in the first two combined (30), doing so on the backs of a dominant night on the glass (55-36) along with a strong showing from the 3-point arc (10-of-25, 40%). 

Dupont was one of four players in double figures for Neumann. Star junior Lauren Klieber led the way with 21 points and six rebounds; fifth-year senior Terea Tourk (17 points, 8 rebounds) and junior guard Aubrie Breisblatt (12 points) rounded out the group.

“It feels great,” DuPoint said. "We haven’t (made the semifinals) since I was here, I know the coaches haven’t done it, so it’s a great feeling and I think that we deserve it, we’ve worked really hard the whole season.”

A second-year starter, DuPont played in 15 games as a sophomore, averaging 9.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg while making 47% of her shots. Her big night Monday bumped her season averages up to 13.0 ppg and 5.8 rpg, second on the Knights (17-9) in scoring and third in rebounding.

Not bad for a kid McNichol took a flier on four years ago. 

“She’s just played great all year,” McNichol said. “She’s just coming into her own at the perfect time for us, she’s so athletic and can do so much for us. Thrilled at the way she’s playing, thrilled.”

It was DuPont’s junior year at Great Valley that her basketball team made it to the District 1 5A championships, where the Patriots lost by two points to Springfield (Delco.) at Temple’s Liacouras Center. It just so happens that the Cougars are coached by Ky McNichol, Mary Beth’s daughter; Ky’s identical twin sister Kacy Cellucci is an assistant coach on the Neumann bench. 

Mary Beth McNichol, intrigued by the athletic left-hander, hit up the Neumann softball coaches, who hadn’t yet been recruiting DuPont. Though college coaches had been recruiting DuPont since her sophomore season, the 2020 COVID pandemic which canceled her junior spring made it possible for Neumann to pitch her on the idea of playing two sports; by that fall, she’d committed to the Delaware County school to do both.

She only played in five games as a freshman, needing time to adjust to the speed and pace of the college game, while also dealing with some injuries. 

But a torn labrum her freshman season of softball cut into her sophomore year of basketball; those 15 games came between the return from her shoulder injury and then stress fractures at the end of the season. She played in 15 games last spring on the softball team as well, moving to first base as she recovered.

This year, finally healthy -- well, save for a shot to the face that has her wearing a protective mask the final weeks of the season -- she’s focusing on playing basketball and basketball only. The former softball-first student-athlete will end her college years as a hooper, and nothing else.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity,” she said. “I’m so grateful that McNichol took a chance on me, because I always had aspirations of playing at a high level for softball and when I got this offer I was like, ‘wow, maybe I am good enough to play [basketball] in college.’ And they worked with me relentlessly throughout my freshman year, through the injuries and everything. to get me to the point where I am.”

DuPont, who's getting her degree in nursing, said her plans after graduation are to stay in school and become a nurse practioner, the goal to work in labor and delivery, following in her mom's footsteps. But in the near future, she's got plenty of meaningful hoops left to play this year and next.

Neumann’s women haven’t been in the NCAA Tournament since winning the CSAC in 2011, the second of back-to-back appearances that are the only two such dances in program history since moving to D-III in 1993-94. 

They’ll have a chance in the semifinals against a Mighty Macs squad which only beat them by five just four days ago (Feb. 16), though they also lost at Immaculata by 24 back in January. 

“We’re happy to be in the semifinals,” McNichol said. “We’re headed to Immaculata, anything can happen at this point, that's what playoffs are all about.”