Delaware Tech women’s basketball coach Megan Fox and men’s coach Dick Rago instruct their teams during Thursday night’s basketball doubleheader. This was the first time DTCC has fielded a women’s team since 2018 and the first time the DTCC men have taken the court since the 2019-20 season. Photos by Chris Stevens
By Chris Stevens, Editor
Megan Fox and Dick Rago are coaches who have been charged with restarting the basketball programs at Delaware Technical and Community College. And each has a unique task ahead of them.
Fox is working only with six players on the women’s roster at the moment while Rago has a full compliment of players on the men’s team, but they haven’t played together before and some haven’t seen a court in a couple of years due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.
Taking that into consideration, DTCC’s first basketball doubleheader in three years ending in a victorious sweep – 60-57 for the women, 70-59 for the guys – over visiting Community College of Philadelphia Thursday night was all that each coach could ask for.
“We’re in a pretty tough situation because of the low numbers,” Fox said. “But to get a win, it’s a credit to the kids who come in here everyday. They work hard in spite of not having a lot.”
“We know we have to work hard because if we don’t, it’s 17s in practice the next day,” joked first-year guard Armani Bell-Jackson, who led all scorers in the women’s game with 29 points, including 8 of 12 from behind the three-point line. “We came together and we found what we needed to get the win.”
Armani Bell-Jackson scored 29 points as Del Tech’s women’s basketball team returned to action with a win Thursday night over Community College of Philadelphia. Photo by Chris Stevens
It was a win two years in the making for Fox, who was hired last year to revive the women’s basketball program, which hadn’t played a game since the 2017-18 season. Then once Delaware Tech decided to sit out the 2020-21 season, that meant more waiting.
“It’s been tough. COVID threw everything off for everyone,” she admits. “It’s surreal being out here, I hadn’t coached a game in almost three years, so I’m excited for these kids who get to be out here and play the game again.”
Playing the game well was Brandywine graduate Bell-Jackson, who hit four three-pointers in the first half, then four more in the second half along with a layup and three of four from the free throw line to account for her points, which she gave credit to her teammates for.
“I don’t get the shots if they don’t believe in me enough to pass me the ball,” she explained. “We all work together as a team.”
Team play was also big in the men’s game as Del Tech erased an 11-point second half deficit to win by 11. Balance was key as four players reached double figures, paced by Izaiah Credle (Smyrna) and Syed Myles, who scored 15 points each. For Rago, who has coached high school and college ball in Delaware for 35 years, this season presents a challenge for him as well.
“We’re young, we’ve got only three returnees, but these first two games tell me that these guys play hard, they play and practice with intensity and are only going to get better and better,” he says.
Syed Myles (4) and Izaiah Credle (3) each scored 15 in Del Tech’s home opening win Thursday night. Photos by Chris Stevens
“We’re hoopers,” said Myles, who was an all-Henlopen North Conference pick at Caesar Rodney last season. “We just try to bring it at practice every single day. It won’t be hard for us to pull it together.”
“The big thing us for coming into tonight was we wanted to bounce back from Wednesday [84-76 loss to Gloucester County (NJ)] and that’s what we did,” adds Credle, a Smyrna graduate. “Being able to play home in front of fans and get our first win, it really means a lot.”
