City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Four years after her first ACL tear and two years removed from her second, Tina Njike is finally, finally healthy. 

And the Penn women are ready to reap the benefits. 

“I feel fantastic, honestly,” Njike said. “I haven’t felt like this in a very long time.”

With the 6-foot-2 junior forward looking like she’s ready to be a force in the middle, helped out by 6-1 sophomore Gabriella Kelley, the ‘5’ position looks like it’s all set for head coach Mike McLaughlin’s Quakers. 

That’s a critical piece for a Penn squad looking to make noise in the Ivy League again, nine years after their last league championship.

Last year, McLaughlin started senior forward Stina Almqvist and freshman Katie Collins up front. The 6-1 Almqvist — a quality inside scorer who struggled to shoot from deep — tended to play the ‘4’ while Collins — a better shooter but also a quality rim protector at 6-2 — usually played the ‘5.’ 

With Almqvist graduating after averaging 17.7 ppg and 7.6 rpg, McLaughlin had a major hole to fill up front. And he knew just who he wanted in that spot. 

“She brings a whole lot to the table,” McLaughlin said of Njike. “Physically gifted, tough kid [...] she is going to have a monster year.”

A neuroscience major with plans on going to medical school, Njike’s listed as a Salt Lake City native, but that’s not quite her whole background.

She was born in Belgium but raised in Montreal, where she lived through her middle school years. Her family moved to Utah before her freshman year of high school, a major culture shock for the young forward. But she settled into a star role at Skyline High School, picking up Division I offers after her sophomore year, Penn included.

As a junior, Njike tore her ACL, but returned to play out her senior year, averaging 14.9 ppg, 11.6 rpg and 2.9 apg to earn her third and final First Team All-State Honor.

She arrived at Penn in the fall of 2023 with the coaching staff anticipating her addition to the roster. The hope was that she could get onto the floor early and give the Quakers a two-way paint threat with athleticism and upside. 

“Her freshman year, we practiced, she looked phenomenal, I was salivating to have her on our team,” McLaughlin said. “Half-hour later, she's down on the floor and tore her ACL.”

For the second time in three years, Njike had to spend a season watching from the bench, with the accompanying surgery and recovery that goes along with an ACL tear.

“It was definitely very challenging,” she said, “but I was just very lucky to have a really good supporting staff, my teammates and my coaches were really supportive. The athletic trainers, the PTs, I had a good community around me to go through that injury.”

She returned to the court for her sophomore year, playing in 22 contests and averaging 2.7 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 6.7 mpg. There were flashes, like a 14-point outing against Delaware State, but her minutes faded into Ivy League play. 

Now that her most recent knee injury is more than 24 months in the past, Njike looks ready to contribute in a much more significant fashion. She put in a productive 17 minutes as Penn crushed D-III King’s College 105-31 in its season opener on Friday, contributing 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. 

Njike knocked down a smooth mid-range face-up, scored around the rim, and looked plenty agile and athletic as she sprinted from end-to-end to make plays on both sides.

“Just feels good to feel like I can move a little bit, and just do a lot more,” she said. “I’m really happy about (my stats) and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates.”

When Njike wasn’t on the court, Kelley had her own quality run at the ‘5’ spot. The 6-1 post from San Francisco was on the court for 10 minutes against King’s and contributed nine points and three rebounds along with a couple other assorted stats, knocking down all four of her shots including a 3-pointer from straightaway.  

Kelley only played in 10 games a year ago, her run against King’s setting career bests for her in every statistical category. McLaughlin raved about the jump that she made from her freshman year to her sophomore one, and Kelley felt it as well. 

“(The coaches) always believed in me but I think last year I didn't really give them enough to work,” she said. “But they stayed consistent with their belief in me and when I took that jump in my game this summer it really paid off, because they believed in me the whole time.”

November will undoubtedly be a memorable month for Njike, who becomes an American citizen around Thanksgiving, her third international citizenship. She and the rest of the Quakers will play their first Division I opponent on Monday with a trip to Delaware State; they open Big 5 play on Wednesday with a trip to Drexel (6:00 PM). 

Ivy League play starts Jan. 3 with a home game against archrival Princeton. After finishing 6-8 in the Ancient Eight last year, the Quakers want to push for the top. 

“I feel like our team, we can score in so many different ways, so I feel like it’ll really help us in the long run,” Njike said. “I feel like anyone can really give us a career high any night.”