VIDEO: WCA pulls away in 4Q in another classic with Middle Township

Posted: January 5th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

NORTH WILDWOOD – The girls basketball teams from Middle Township and Wildwood Catholic Academy play each other twice per season as members of the Cape-Atlantic League’s American Conference.

Those two contests are annually among the best basketball games of the season in South Jersey – boys or girls.

That trend continued Friday evening.

Wildwood Catholic, behind a brilliant offensive performance from Kaci Mikulski and tough second-half defense, took this one, posting a 44-41 victory on Fran St. John Court in front of a near-sellout crowd in Sister Mary Ellen Ford Gymnasium.

“Every win is a big win in this conference,” Wildwood Catholic coach Steve DiPatri said. “Every night, you need to be the best version of yourself and hopefully that ends you up on the right side of the scoreboard. If you focus on the process, the end result takes care of itself.”

Mikulski, a senior guard, led all scorers with 17 points. She made three three-pointers in the first half, before making four field goals on drives to the basket after halftime.

Mikulski, a four-year starter, is now just 37 points from 1,000 for her career.

“I thought she stepped up in the second half like a senior leader needs to do,” DiPatri said. “All of our seniors stepped up. All of our players played great but when you’re in big games, big conference games, you need your seniors to step up  and they did a great job. The whole group has done a great job with our culture this year and promoting team first and promoting our core values.”

The first half was a tale of two quarters. Wildwood Catholic raced out to an 11-3 lead and held a 17-10 edge at the end of the first quarter. Middle then hit three three-pointers in the second quarter and outscored Catholic 14-6 in the period to take a one-point lead at the break.

The second half began with the teams trading baskets, until Wildwood Catholic scored the final five points of the quarter on a three-pointer by Eliott McCabe and a basket by Lola McGonigle to take the lead for good.

The Crusaders (8-0 overall, 4-0 CAL American) then went on a 7-2 spurt to start the fourth quarter to open up a seven-point lead with less than a minute to go.

“I thought we stepped up our energy,” DiPatri said. “Energy is one of our core beliefs at Wildwood Catholic and the kids have bought into that. We talked about it in the huddle going into the fourth quarter and the kids stepped up big,”

Middle (6-3, 2-2) scored just two points over more than eight minutes of game from late in the third quarter to late in the fourth.

“There are things we can control that we can do better,” Middle coach John Leahy said. “I thought our effort was fantastic but we have some things to clean up. It’s tough but we’ll learn from it and get better.”

Madison Palek led Middle with 13 points. She also blocked four shots and gathered seven rebounds. Hannah Cappelletti added nine points.

In addition to the 17 points from Mikulski, Wildwood Catholic got eight points apiece from McCabe, McGonigle and Destiny Wallace.

Wildwood Catholic has won six of the last seven contests against Middle, almost all of which have been decided in the final four minutes.

Wildwood Catholic faces another pressure-cooker of a game Monday, traveling to unbeaten Mainland for another CAL American Conference contest. Middle Township hosts Gloucester Catholic in a non-league game Saturday afternoon.