By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
ATLANTIC CITY — Holy Spirit plays a style of basketball that can be disorienting to some teams. The Spartans fly up and down the court and take as many as 80 shots or more in a game. They don’t care how many they miss, it’s all about volume and playing at a pace that most high school girls basketball teams aren’t used to.
But Wildwood Catholic Academy is a seasoned group of talented players who have played in big games throughout their careers, and they didn’t let Spirit’s frenetic pace get to them in the Cape-Atlantic League semifinals at Atlantic City High on Tuesday night.
Yes, the Crusaders committed 19 turnovers, but they also outrebounded Holy Spirit 53-28 and scored 44 points in the paint. Their ability to dominate inside led to a convincing 73-44 victory that put Wildwood Catholic into the league championship game for the second straight year against Mainland, the top seed and a 59-38 winner of Middle Township in the other semifinal.
“We’re super stoked. This has always been our goal, to get (back to the championship) and now we have to capitalize. We knew what to expect when we came in. Their philosophy works for them. It’s hard to deal with, but we pulled through and got this win,” said senior guard Kaci Mikulski. “It’s extremely difficult (to play against that style) but we just had to stay disciplined, like our coaches always say. We did that tonight.”
Wildwood Catholic (22-2, 10-2 Cape-Atlantic League American) started the game on a 9-2 run and led 12-3 after a 3-pointer from El McCabe, and later in the first quarter McCabe nailed another three to push the lead out to 17-6. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and was one of five Crusaders in double figures.
Holy Spirit (16-9, 6-6 CAL American) got to within 21-12 on a 3-pointer from Sabrina Little, but the Crusaders outscored the Spartans 16-11 to take a 39-23 lead into halftime. The third quarter belonged to the Crusaders, who outscored Spirit 28-9 to blow the game wide open. Wildwood Catholic got huge boosts on the inside from Lily King and Anastasia Bowman. King scored 13 points and had five rebounds, while Bowman finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
“I’ve been working on (my offensive game) every day. My teammates are always like, ‘go to the basket, post up, get those rebounds.’ That helps so much when my coaches and teammates tell me over and over to go and do it,” Bowman, a junior, said. “We knew we had to keep it up and not let our foot off the pedal. In the second half, we knew we had it because of the start we had. Like our coach says, we play with poise and we’re very disciplined. We just keep pushing.”
“(King and Bowman) stepped up huge and they are a big part of our team. I feel like every girl on this team really has their role, and we’ve all accepted it,” Mikulski said. “I’m so proud of our girls. But the hard work begins now. Now, this is where the real work begins. It’s going to take discipline and hard work, we have to stay focused and our mindset has to be there. We’re excited.”
Wildwood Catholic dominated in nearly every facet of the game, as the Crusaders shot 48 percent from the floor, went 7-of-15 from the 3-point line, shot 80 percent from the free-throw line, had 16 offensive rebounds, 17 assists and nine steals.
The Crusaders believe they have the talent to win the championship, but they face a tough challenge in Mainland, the No. 1 team in South Jersey and a top-10 team in the state. Catholic’s only two losses this season have come against the Mustangs, and the closest they got was a 10-point loss in early January. They’ll battle it out at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Egg Harbor Township High.
“Our freshman (Lola McGonigle, 11 points, 5 assists) is great, our four seniors are great, the sophomores and juniors — everyone is fitting in so well. We’re doing great,” Bowman said. “Everyone has their own skills and we all mix together. We combine and work with what we have. We just have to keep running our offense, staying disciplined and getting good shots.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 2 Wildwood Catholic Academy vs. No. 1 Mainland Regional, Saturday, 2 p.m. at Egg Harbor Township High for the Cape-Atlantic League championship. Holy Spirit vs. Koinonia in the first round of the South Jersey Non-Public B state playoffs, Feb. 23, TBA.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
