Shaler grad Emily Ondo gets new lease on basketball life at Chatham

Not long ago, Emily Ondo thought she was done playing basketball. She walked away from the sport early in her junior season at Capital — the end of a mostly frustrating stint with the Crusaders — and decided to get on with the rest of her life.

But deep down, she knew that wasn’t how she wanted her basketball career to end. She had invested too much time, energy and passion since she started coming up through the ranks at Shaler Area.

As it turned out, she wasn’t done. Ondo is back on the court, playing at Chatham and producing the way she always believed she could.

Entering the holiday break, Ondo was leading the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in scoring at 23.8 points per game, including 30 and 35 points in her most recent games.

She also was averaging 11.2 rebounds, making her one of just two players in the PAC averaging a double-double.

“It’s a credit to her,” said Dave Saur, in his second season as the Chatham’s coach. “I have been at every level of college basketball, and there aren’t too many (like her) who take a business-like approach in the gym. She made herself into a player.”

Coming out of Shaler, Ondo committed to Capital to play for coach Dixie Jeffers, who won a pair of D-III national titles with the Crusaders. Ondo got hurt five games into her freshman season and sat out the rest of the year but returned to start 20 of 27 games as a sophomore, averaging 7.5 points.

There was progress on the court, but Ondo said she and the coaches didn’t always see eye to eye. Tensions grew.

“Coming into my junior year, things kind of fell apart,” she said. “The relationship really went sour. Mistakes on my part. Mistakes on (the coach’s) part and mistakes with the team, and I was just kind of forced out.”

Ondo left eight games into her junior season. She turned her attention to finishing her degree — she was working toward becoming an athletic trainer, which would include studying in Australia in the fall of her senior year.

Basketball was an afterthought until long-time mentor Jermaine Turner steered her back toward the hardwood.

Turner has known Ondo for nearly a decade from Ondo’s time with The Scoring Factory, a Pittsburgh-based basketball training academy. Ondo had been a pupil and coach for the organization — she still helps out when time permits — and Turner, the academy director, wasn’t going to let her give up.

“When I found out that she quit … I was a little bit upset with her,” Turner said. “She was always a tough, competitive basketball player. I told her, ‘You have a lot of basketball left. Don’t let somebody take the love of the game away from you.’

“I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

Turner went a step further. A former men’s assistant coach at Chatham, he put in a good word with Saur. Ondo already was set to study in Australia and finish her undergrad degree at Capital, but, once all of the necessary administrative protocols were examined, it was determined she could play at Chatham as a grad student.

By the time she arrived at the University of Technology Sydney in fall 2018, Ondo had been away from basketball for nearly a year, so she decided she had to do something to prepare herself for Chatham. She joined the UTS women’s team and helped it to a runner-up finish in the National University Championships.

Ondo had a new lease on her basketball life.

“Things were so hard for so long,” she said. “I loved Capital. All I wanted to do was play and do big things, but I guess it wasn’t the right fit. … I’m just super grateful to be here. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

The same could be said for the Cougars (7-2, 1-2 PAC). Along with sophomore Kaitlyn Fertig (5-foot-9), the 5-10 Ondo gives Chatham a 1-2 guard punch that presents matchup difficulties for opponents. On defense, Ondo, using her size and physicality, often plays down low — something she hadn’t done at any level.

“I told her if she just plays carefree, she’ll be the best player in the PAC,” Turner said.

Beyond the numbers, Ondo has been like another coach. She said she often feels like an “old soul” but is happy to impart wisdom to the younger players.

“I’ve been on all sides of it,” she said. “I’ve been that freshman who didn’t play and was miserable and (ticked) I didn’t play. I was that young starter who appreciated the opportunity. Then, my junior year, I didn’t start and had that interaction. Then giving it up and now getting it back again.

“I don’t ever forget how I felt. I’m just paying it forward.”

Ondo might not be finished. Saur said because she played so little her freshman and junior seasons at Capital, she might be eligible to play one more semester next season. For that, the Cougars would have to petition the NCAA.

Ondo hasn’t ruled out playing an extra semester but said it might be too difficult to work basketball around completing the clinical studies required to become a trainer.

If this winter is, indeed, her final stand, she wants to finish with a flourish. And on her own terms.

“We’re shooting for the stars,” she said. “I want to shock people. There’s nothing more I want than to compete for a PAC title.”