By TYLER DONOHUE
Sports Writer
Standing in the gymnasium at Cedar Creek High School last Thursday evening, feet away from the home locker room door, it was difficult to predict what kind of team would emerge. The Pirates girls basketball team had just suffered its second loss of the season to Sacred Heart, allowing the Lions to claim the Cape-Atlantic League United Conference title.
A second-year Pirates program that lost its three previous matchups with Sacred Heart by an average margin of 32 points had the Lions on the ropes late, leading the game in the fourth quarter. Less than fifteen minutes later, it was gut check time for Coach Francine Raph’s young squad.
Sacred Heart (19-1, 14-0 in league) rallied for a 44-40 win, snatching a huge home victory and all conference championship hopes away from the Pirates (17-2, 12-2) in front of a heavily invested and extremely loud Cedar Creek crowd. No one could have blamed members of the team for walking out of the locker room with sullen expressions and red eyes.
But if there’s one thing that routinely sticks out most about youth, it’s the ability to bounce back.
Call it resiliency. Call it endurance. Call it moxie. Whatever IT is, this Cedar Creek team embodies the spirit of a fighter.
“Sacred Heart is one of the best teams around but it was a battle between us,” Raph said. “Either team could have won that game so it shows our improvement. A little bit of inexperience costs us at times, but we’ve shown we can compete with any team in the area and that’s impressive since we’ve only been in existence for two seasons.”
When the program first took to the court with no juniors or seniors for the 2010-11 season, it finished with a respectable 15-13 record. Growing pains included two blowout losses to the Lions (71-32, 62-31), a 52-24 defeat against Holy Spirit and a double-digit loss to Gloucester City in the South Jersey Group I quarterfinals.
“We’re ecstatic because last year we lost 13 games and the way our team is playing this season shows how far we’ve come,” said starting point guard Mikila Stefanski. “Hard work has helped us develop as individuals and as a team.”
Stefanski has become one of the league’s most dynamic scorers during her sophomore season. The 5-foot-4 playmaker is one of four Stefanski sisters on the fledging squad.
Mercina, Morgan, Monique and Mikila make up about a quarter of Cedar Creek’s roster. The sophomore quadruplets are only part of an equation that seems destined to lead the Pirates to plenty of wins in the coming years.
“It’s like our entire starting five is a group of sisters,” said Mikila, who led Cedar Creek with 15 against Sacred Heart before fouling out in the final minute.
Despite the game’s unfortunate finish, she couldn’t help contain a smile while discussing the Pirates’ potential.
“We’re using every game as a learning experience instead of dwelling on the past, Mikila Stefanski said. “This team has grown a lot together so far and we’re excited to finish the season strong. I think we’re all really looking forward to next season too.”
For now, the focus is squarely on clinching a spot in the inaugural six-team CAL playoff format. The Pirates control their own destiny in the race for the final wild card spot and could have one last shot at Sacred Heart in the second round of the postseason tournament.
“Sacred Heart is great competition and has forced us to get better,” Stefanski said. “Even though the school is closing after this year, their players will transfer to other schools and continue to compete against us in the future.”
Cedar Creek quickly rebounded from the loss to the Lions.
The Pirates defeated playoff-bound Atlantic City (13-6, 11-3) on Friday, Feb. 3. Cedar Creek then traveled to Wildwood Catholic on Tues, Feb. 7 and trounced the Crusaders, 60-31.
“These girls bring their best effort buzzer to buzzer,” Raph said. “They don’t get down, they don’t hang their heads and that’s the way we play every game.”
Raph is happy to have a nucleus that will return entirely intact next season. The quadruplets have two years left with the program and all-league selection Kristine Miller is just a junior.
Miller reached the 1,000 career points milestone in Friday’s win over Atlantic City. The 6-foot forward tallied 26 points and 16 rebounds against the Vikings.
She should have a shot to eclipse 1,500 total points by the time she finishers her Cedar Creek career, leaving an indelible mark in the school’s freshly-minted record book.
Miller provides a tremendous dimension to a Pirates lineup that continues to improve as it competes.
“They all give the team something different,” Raph said. “They all work very well together and it’s just important that we continue to build chemistry because they still haven’t played together as a group for very long.”
The group may not have a ton of games under its belt just yet, but team members believe in each other unequivocally. Surely, their reaction to a gut-wrenching rivalry loss confirms Cedar Creek’s wherewithal.
“We’re going to win a championship together,” Stefanski proclaimed, before walking across the court to rendezvous with her sisters and move on from the character-building defeat.
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