CAL girls semis: Bowman, King boost WCA; Bella Mazur shines as Mainland pulls away from Middle

Posted: February 14th 2024

Anastasia Bowman (left) and Lily King combined for 27 points off the bench to help Wildwood Catholic win a CAL semifinal game against Holy Spirit.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ATLANTIC CITY – The two teams that proved to be the best in the Cape-Atlantic League over the course of the regular season will now play for the league championship.

Wildwood Catholic dominated Holy Spirit and Mainland wilted Middle Township with a big second half in Tuesday’s CAL Playoff Tournament semifinals at Atlantic City.

The winners will face off for the third time this season with the league title on the line on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Egg Harbor Township High School. The game will be broadcast live by Cape Atlantic Live.

BOWMAN, KING BOOST WILDWOOD CATHOLIC

Anastasia Bowman and Lily King are reserve players for a Wildwood Catholic Academy girls basketball team deep in talent and experience.

In Tuesday’s semifinal against Holy Spirit, they proved they both have starter-level talent of their own. 

Bowman, a junior, registered 14 points and eight rebounds and King, a sophomore, chipped in 13 points to lead an extremely balanced scoring effort as the second-seeded Crusaders blew past No. 6 Holy Spirit, 73-44, to check into Saturday’s title game.

The production of Bowman and King in reserve roles is “something that’s been progressing as the year’s gone on,” Wildwood Catholic coach Steve DiPatri said. “That’s the biggest difference in us over the last two or three weeks and it’s why I feel real confident in our team right now.”

Bowman and King were two of five Wildwood Catholic players in double figures. Kaci Mikulski netted 12 points despite playing limited minutes due to foul trouble, Lola McGonigle added 11 points and Eliott McCabe chipped in 10 points.

Wildwood Catholic (22-2) ran out to a 23-12 lead after the first quarter and was ahead by 39-23 at the half. The Crusaders then played one of their best offensive quarters of the season in the third period, exploding for 28 points against a normally stout defensive team, to put the game away.

The victory was Wildwood Catholic’s third of the season over the Spartans.

“I think our experience was a big factor,” DiPatri said. “We have a lot of big-game experience with this group and we had a lot of familiarity with Spirit, which helped us, too.”

Thanks in large part to Bowman and King, Wildwood Catholic enjoyed a massive advantage on points in the paint, scoring 44 points from that area compared to Holy Spirit’s nine.

Wildwood Catholic exhibited pinpoint accuracy with its shooting, making 29 of 60 shots from the field, including a sizzling 7 of 15 from three-point range. Five different Crusader players made a three-pointer.

Sabrina Little and Lauren Cella each scored 13 points for Holy Spirit (16-10).

BELLA MAZUR ERUPTS FOR MAINLAND

Bella Mazur showed why she’s closing in on 1,000 career points Tuesday.

The senior guard, after going scoreless in the opening quarter, erupted for 17 in the second period alone en route to a game-high 28 points to lead top-seeded Mainland to a 59-28 win over No. 4 Middle Township.

“We needed that from her because we were in a little bit of foul trouble,” Mainland coach Scott Betson said. “We stress to her and her sister (Ava) that they’re so athletic and aggressive that we want them to attack the basket and get their points that way.”

Middle was in the game at half, using a late second-quarter spurt to close to within six at 31-25 at the break after falling behind by as many as 11 points in the second quarter. But Mainland went on to limit Middle Township to only 13 second-half points to pull away.

“It was a little bit frustrating at times for us but give all the credit to Middle Township because they’re really good defensively year in and year out,” Betson said. “I think what really helped us is that we locked in pretty well on the defensive end in the second half.”

Sydney Stokes had a big second half for Mainland, scoring eight of her 11 points and grabbing seven of her 11 rebounds after halftime. Ava Mazur also scored 11 points.

Reagan Powell posted 13 points and eight rebounds and McKenzie Palek registered nine points, six rebounds and five assists for Middle (19-7).

Mainland enjoyed a 20-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

Bella Mazur heads into Saturday’s final needing 16 points to reach 1,000 career points. She would join her sister and teammate Kasey Brentones as 1,000-point scorers if she reaches the mark.

LOOKING AHEAD

It’s no surprise to see Mainland and Wildwood Catholic in the final. The Mustangs (24-1) will enter Saturday’s title game having gone unbeaten to date against South Jersey competition. Meanwhile, Wildwood Catholic’s only two defeats have come at the hands of Mainland.

“It’s the nature of how the CAL is doing it, where, if you’re going to have thetop teams in the same conference, when you get into the CAL tournament you’re probably going to have to play a team three times to win it,” Betson said. “It goes with the territory. It’s nice for us that we’ve had those wins against them. But it’ll definitely be a challenge because they’re a very good team and they’re very well coached.”

Wildwood Catholic goes into the final knowing that the results of the two earlier games against Mainland – 50-40 on Jan. 8 in Linwood and 60-44 on Jan. 30 in North Wildwood – won’t matter when the teams take the floor Saturday.

“The goal for the team was to get back there,” said DiPatri, whose team lost to Mainland in the 2022 CAL title game and in last year’s semifinal round. “Now that we have the opportunity, we have to go out there and play 32 minutes against a really good opponent. We’ll try to play our best basketball and see what happens.”