Passion for game has helped bring WCA senior to brink of milestone

Posted: January 11th 2024

Wildwood Catholic's Kaci Mikulski, shown here at the Boardwalk Basketball Classic, enters Friday's game with Lenape just six points shy of 1,000 for her career.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Kaci Mikulski isn’t completely sure when she began playing basketball.

“I might’ve been 6 or 7, maybe 8,” she said. “I was so intense, too. I played soccer a lot, too, back then but I fell in love with basketball right away.”

Mikulski’s love for basketball couldn’t be more evident. The 5-8 senior guard from Wildwood Catholic Academy often plays with an infectious smile on her face, encourages her teammates at every opportunity and displays an unwavering passion for the game.

“Kaci has the personality where she just exudes enthusiasm about the game,” Wildwood Catholic coach Steve DiPatri said. “She’s one of the top kids I’ve ever coached when it comes to expressing that kind of enthusiasm for the game. She does that especially well to her teammates, coaches, other adults and people connected to the game.”

Mikulski will bring that enthusiasm for the sport into the Crusaders’ next contest, Friday’s non-league tilt with Lenape, a game featuring two of the best teams in South Jersey. It’s shaping up to be a special evening of basketball, not just  because of the attractive matchup, but also because Mikulski is only six points shy of becoming the latest Wildwood Catholic player to reach 1,000 career points.

“I’m super excited, definitely blessed to be in this position,” Mikulski said. “We play a great team Friday so it should be fun.”

KACI MIKULSKI

Mikulski is one of the major reasons why the Crusaders have been near the top of South Jersey high school girls basketball media rankings thus far this season. Wednesday’s 62-54 road win at Holy Spirit brought the Crusaders’ record to 9-1 overall, 5-1 in the Cape-Atlantic American Conference. Mikulski is averaging 15.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

Mikulski’s tangible numbers are impressive enough. Just as impressive is her leadership, which has helped create a visible chemistry that exemplifies how cohesive the Crusaders are as a unit.

“Our program has grown in a lot of ways and Kaci and the fellow seniors (which include Eliott McCabe, Ava Vogdes and Destiny Wallace) have been a big part of that,” DiPatri said. “Kaci has been taking the lead to push our team to practice beyond the time frame that we’re together as a team. She gathers them to shoot, she encourages them to play AAU, she even takes to media outlets to promote our program. Those are things the average person probably doesn’t see.”

Mikulski is set to play college basketball at Division II Jefferson University. Her love of basketball has already led to her choosing a career path: Mikulski wants to eventually become a Division I college basketball coach. She plans to major in psychology with a minor in sports management at Jefferson.

“I love all aspects of basketball,” she said. “That’s why I want to go into coaching. Basketball is something I can’t live without. I have a healthy obsession with it. I love watching it. I love playing it. I love coaching it. I just love everything about it.”

Mikulski spent much of her childhood in the Maple Shade and Cherry Hill areas before relocating to Wildwood Crest with her parents and younger sister while she was in seventh grade. Moving to Cape May County has been a perfect fit for Mikulski, considering how basketball-crazed this community has proven to be.

“There’s probably no place I’d rather be,” she said. “We pack our gyms down here for games and that’s something that’s not really common in other places. Everyone here is so supporting. I think it definitely has to do with how our winters are here. It’s our offseason and it’s a big basketball community. It seems like everyone down here likes basketball. It’s the thing to do. It’s hard to describe. It’s just awesome being a basketball player in this area.”