A scene from the Gloucester Catholic-Wildwood high school girls basketball game Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Wildwood.
Patrick Mulranen
WILDWOOD -- Macie McCracken walked to the free-throw line early in the first quarter Thursday with a little smile, receiving encouragement from her teammates.
Her expression quickly became serious.
The Wildwood High School girls basketball standout was ready to make history.
McCracken sank her first attempt, scoring her 2,000th career point. The game was briefly stopped as the senior took pictures with family, received a plaque and flowers and hugged teammates.
"Obviously, a little pressure, but I practice foul shots more than I practice any other shots," McCracken said. "So, honestly, I was kind of confident going into that."
McCracken finished with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, but the Warriors fell 70-41 to Gloucester Catholic in a Tri-County Conference Classic Division game. She now has 2,018 career points, including 303 career 3-pointers. McCracken is the third girl in school history to reach 2,000 points.
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The Warriors (8-2) are No. 11 in The Press Elite 11. Gloucester Catholic (9-1) is third.
"I mean, I am so excited," McCracken said. "I worked my entire life to get to this point. So, I am really happy that it's here."
McCracken joins seven other local girls basketball players to eclipse the 2,000-career point plateau, including her older sister, Maddie McCracken, who scored 2,001 for the Warriors from 2015-19.
Monica Johnson (Wildwood) scored the most career points of any other local girl players, finishing with 3,173 from 1998-2002. Lauren Holden (Lower Cape May Regional) scored 2,476 from 2001-15.
Ashley Durham (Sacred Heart) scored 2,201 from 2005-09, Shea Matlock (Egg Harbor Township) 2,167 from 1989-93, Valerie Jones (Atlantic City) 2,046 from 1978-82 and Kylee Watson (Mainland Regional) 2,015 from 2016-20 are the others.
"It's an amazing feat," Wildwood coach Teresa Cunniff said. "She is an elite player. She works on her game constantly. She was destined for this because it's in her blood. She worked as hard as she could to accomplish things like this and, look, she did it. She deserved it."
Cunniff said having 2,000-plus points and 300-plus 3s is an "elite career," and Macie's isn't even over yet.
"That's amazing to have two people in one family to achieve such a goal," Cunniff said of Maddie's and Macie's 2,000-plus point careers. "They worked hard for this, so they deserved this honor.
"For Macie to get it on the foul line, on the noise, was just amazing."
The Wildwood gymnasium was packed with fans, and Macie's family all wore customized shirts with different pictures of the senior. She could have reached the milestone Wednesday, but fell a point short after scoring 25 against Clayton.
Accomplishing the feat at home was memorable.
"I really felt love (Thursday). I am happy I got it at home," Macie said.
'She did it on her own'
There are three McCracken sisters -- Mackenzie, Maddie and Macie. Like Macie, her older sisters were standout players at Wildwood.
Mackenzie, who graduated in 2017, scored 1,896 career points. Maddie and Mackenzie played with each other for two years at Wildwood, but the two older sisters have such a large age gap between Macie "that she didn't play against us," Maddie said.
"On the way over here I was thinking about it," Maddie said. "I feel like it's even more special because me and (Mackenzie) had each other to push each other. We played on the same team and we would play pick-up together. We competed against each other a ton.
"Her being so good has nothing to do with us. It's really special. She did this on her own. It's even more special because she is the solo one out of it. I am just so proud of her. She works really hard."
Maddie said Macie goes to the gym every morning and stays after practice to shoot. Macie then goes home to eat and later practices more with their father, Scott, who is the Warriors' boys basketball coach
"She deserves everything she is getting credit for," Maddie said. "I am even more proud of who she is as a person. She is an incredible athlete and person."
Macie said sharing the 2,000-plus career point milestone with her sister is "definitely cool."
"And my other sister (Mackenzie) is high up too, so seeing all our names on the board, that's all I can ask for," Macie said. "My dad, that's all he ever wanted for us."
Proud dad
Scott McCracken praised Cunniff and former Wildwood coach Dave Troiano for guiding his daughters to incredible heights.
"It's outstanding," Scott said. "I am happy about that. Fortunately enough they got to play for a great program. Great coaches. Good program. We are all excited."
But with Macie, Scott instilled in her from an early age that, if you want to be a good basketball player, you need to continuously work on your foul shots. If you need to be better at jump shots, then "Get 200, 300 jumpers up," he said.
On Thursday, Macie made all three of her foul shots. She scored 11 in the first half. She is averaging 23.6 points per game.
"She is a kid that really works hard," Scott said. "She works hard. So, this is well-deserved."
More to come
Macie said she won't get to Monica Johnson's level and score 3,173 career points, but her goal is to get as many as she can before the Warriors' season ends.
Last winter, Wildwood won the South Jersey Group I title, so Macie hopes to play that deep into the playoffs again and keep scoring.
"This is extremely special to me, and I am thankful for everyone who has helped me along my journey on my basketball career and high school career," McCracken said.
Wildwood is a young team and plays a handful of freshmen and sophomores.
"Hopefully they will take a page out of her book with (Macie's) work ethic and her practice and her dedication and be the same kind of person she is," Cunniff said.
GALLERY: Wildwood's Macie McCracken scores 2,000th career point
Contact Patrick Mulranen: 609-272-7217
Twitter @ACPressMulranen
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