Photo credit: South Jersey Sports Digest

No matter her role, when Katie McDonald steps on a basketball court, good things seem to happen.

As a player, McDonald was a prolific scorer for Sterling Regional High School in Somerdale, New Jersey. She totaled 2,090 points over her four-year high school career. However, she may be an even better coach.

McDonald became the fastest girls basketball coach to reach 200 career victories in New Jersey history on Feb. 3, and her record now stands at 206-65.

She is also now a member of one of the most exclusive clubs in South Jersey girls basketball. She joins Lisa Gedaka as just the second person to score 2,000 points and win 200 games at her alma mater. 

McDonald’s coaching success makes sense when you consider who she learned the game from. Her high school coach was the renowned Bill Ulrich. When Ulrich retired in 2002, he was South Jersey’s all-time winningest girls coach with a 447-73 record in over a 29-year career. Ulrich has since been passed, but still ranks fifth.

McDonald is in the midst of her 10th season on the Sterling sidelines. She has the Silver Knights off to an 20-4 start, and the team is currently ranked No. 7 in Group 2.

As the season comes to a close, McDonald will try to best her mentor. She has coached Sterling to the last five Colonial Conference Championships, something equaled by only Ulrich in school history. A championship this year would put McDonald alone at the top, a ranking with which she is very familiar.