After 18 lead changes, King’s late basket lifts Wildwood Catholic over Wildwood in wild rivalry game

Posted: December 24th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

WILDWOOD – The Wildwood High School and Wildwood Catholic Academy girls basketball teams engaged in one of the greatest games in Boardwalk Basketball Classic history Tuesday afternoon.

In the end, Wildwood Catholic made one or two more plays than Wildwood and came away with a 54-53 victory in the annual rivalry game at the Wildwoods Convention Center.

With the Crusaders trailing by a point, Dani Daley came up with a critical steal on a Lady Warrior fastbreak with 43 seconds remaining. The ball eventually found its way to teammate Lily King, whose layup in traffic with 32 seconds to go put the Crusaders up for good.

Wildwood had a chance to win it at the end, but Wildwood Catholic rebounded the miss of a long jump shot just prior to the buzzer to secure the result.

“The ball bounced our way the last couple of possessions,” DiPatri said. “The way the game went, that really determined who was going to win the game. Our kids played with great grit, great hustle and great determination and they stayed positive the whole way.”

The contest featured two very good teams that played at an extremely high level, particularly this early in the season. Neither team led by more than five points. There were 18 lead changes, eight in the fourth quarter alone.

“It started off rough for us,” said King, who finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals. “We all knew it was a big game and we needed to play as a team. We really executed well at the end of the game.”

Daley led Wildwood Catholic (3-0) with 24 points and five steals. Demiya Carter added seven points, five rebounds and four steals.

King was the only senior in uniform for the Crusaders.

“That’s the way it should be, right? Seniors are supposed to make big-time plays in big-time situations,” DiPatri said. “The play Dani Daley made to get the ball back for us was huge. There were some great plays Demiya made. All our kids played great today.”

Wildwood Catholic helped itself with excellent free-throw shooting, making 12 of 15 attempts.

Angela Wilber was terrific for Wildwood (3-2) in the loss. The senior point guard sank 21 points to go with eight assists. Joelle Murphy added 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Rebecca Benichou contributed nine points and four steals.