City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Fairleigh Dickinson coach Stephanie Gaitley missed out on Jen Zenszer as a high school recruit.

The former St. Joe’s Hawks head coach (1991-2001) instead watched Zenser go onto a Hall of Fame career at rival La Salle.

There’s some satisfaction knowing Zenser’s daughter won’t repeat the same path.

Upper Dublin junior point guard Megan Ngo announced her commitment to Gaitley and Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday, three days after a two-day unofficial visit helped confirm the Knights were the right fit for her.

“She did say that she finally has some of my mom’s genes,” Ngo said on the phone Tuesday.

“I really liked everything about (FDU),” Ngo added. “I wanted to be close to home and it’s pretty close. I love the team and the coaches, and I really like how they compete in their conference. Every year they’re a really competitive team.”

Ngo is a 5-foot-3 point guard who was an impact player as soon as she stepped on the court at Upper Dublin. She can carve up the defense as a ballhandler and distributor, while causing havoc on the other end of the floor as well.

She averaged 9.7 ppg, 7.4 apg, 4.1 rpg and 3.6 spg as a freshman for the Cardinals and put up 10.2 ppg, 4.3 apg, 3.8 rpg and 1.4 spg during her sophomore campaign. 

“I definitely think that I will fit into what they (Fairleigh Dickinson) do,” Ngo said. “I think they have a couple of really good guards, point guards right now. It was great to see what they do and see how I can learn from them. I definitely think I’m gonna be able to do similar to what I do now for my high school team and AAU team, get players the ball that I need to do.”

Gaitley first watched Ngo play at an AAU tournament with the Comets 15U squad after her freshman season. Ngo attended one of FDU’s Elite Camps after the AAU season in August and received an offer shortly after.

A knee injury prematurely ended Ngo’s sophomore season on Feb. 9 during the first round of the Suburban One League playoffs. The injury came about two years after her older sister Amy, now a freshman at Holy Family, suffered a similar injury.

“Initially I just really wanted to finish the season out,” Ngo said. “It was the last time I was going to be able to play with my sister and we had been doing amazing. … Obviously once high school was over and it got into AAU, it was a little hard but I saw it with my sister when she got hurt. I still kind of knew everything was going to work out how it should.”

Ngo didn’t get the chance to suit up this summer for the Comets as she rehabbed her knee. She is expected to be cleared in one week and hopes to be ready for the start of the Cardinals’ season in December.

Despite her injury, Ngo said she talked with a few Division I and II programs. However, they wanted to see her suit up before offering her. Gaitley and her staff were supportive during Ngo’s time away from the court, and the opportunity to play at FDU was too good to pass up, so she made an early commitment this week. 

“Coach Gaitley and all the coaches were great throughout my injury,” Ngo said. “They would always call me and a lot of the times it was nothing about basketball, just checking up on me calling, just seeing how I’m doing and that was great that they stuck out with me through the whole thing.”

Ngo will add to a growing local contingent at FDU. Sophomore forward Bella Toomey (Penn Charter) and freshman guard Ava Renninger (Archbishop Wood) both played their high school ball locally. Toomey played for the Comets’ organization, so Ngo had a chance to connect with her before the visit and stayed with her when she was on campus.

The Knights went 14-17 (11-5 Northeast Conference) last season in Gaitley’s first campaign as head coach. They finished third in the conference and reached the NEC Tournament semifinals. Gaitley’s won league titles at all but one of her previous stops, including Richmond, St. Joe’s, Long Island and Fordham.

Ngo still has two more seasons at Upper Dublin before she looks to help the Knights compete for conference titles. The Cardinals lost Amy and Brighid and Nora Brady, but they still have a strong core in Ngo and sophomores Tamia Clark and Bridget DiMartile that has the chance to make some noise in the SOL, District 1 and beyond over the next two years.

“I definitely am very excited to come back,” Ngo said. “Obviously there’s going to be some nerves being back the first time after getting hurt, but I’m really excited and we’re supposed to be pretty good this year, so hopefully I can put the excitement before the nerves and play how I used to play.”

Ngo's commitment is a big milestone in a hoops career that still has plenty in store. Her mom's genes were certainly a big help, but Gaitley will be getting a player who's had plenty of basketball influences help her get to his point.

“I definitely want to make sure I acknowledge the coaching and the people who I’ve been surrounded by over the last few years,” Ngo said. “Comets have really done so much for me, and my high school coaches, Coach (Morgan) Funsten and Coach Steve (Gelone). My CYO coach Coach McCloskey. They’re the reason why I’m able to have this opportunity and I just really appreciate it.”