Work ethic leads Kaiser, Upper Dublin to PIAA-6A title game

Nicole Kaiser admits it’s almost embarrassing to watch.

It would be film of her during her freshman and sophomore seasons at Upper Dublin. Considering where Kaiser is now, as a senior co-captain and second-leading scorer on a team about to play for its first state title, the player on that film looks like a different person.

Kaiser has come a long way since eighth grade and along the way, has become a consistent presence for the Cardinals.

“It’s mostly my confidence, but I think everything has changed,” Kaiser said. “When I look back, it’s almost kind of embarrassing. I think I’ve come a long way from that. It makes me feel proud of where I am and looking back to see how much better I’ve gotten makes me feel good about the work I put in.”

As a reward for all those hours in the gym and driveway working away, Kaiser and Upper Dublin (26-5) will face Central bucks South (28-4) at 6 p.m. Tuesday night in the PIAA 6A title game at Hershey’s Giant Center.

The forward wasn’t a key player for Sandy Run’s middle school team but when Upper Dublin coach Morgan Funsten watched Kaiser play, he saw potential. She spent that summer at the high school team’s camp but didn’t make the varsity roster as a freshman.

Even the next year, Kaiser was a bench player whose role was situational depending on the game. In that summer between sophomore and junior year, with UD needed some new players to step up into the starting lineup, Kaiser committed herself to getting better.

“You’d consider her a late-bloomer in terms of being a basketball player but it’s such a great example of someone who falls in love with the sport, maybe a little later than other people did and putting the infinite number of hours into it and the hard work paying off,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “I think maybe one of the reasons we’re going on our run is because this is it and they don’t want any regrets as to how they go out.”

Upper Dublin’s other senior starter, co-captain Maggie Weglos, is a four-year varsity player who’s made every start in her career. Weglos is the more vocal of the two but their respective styles contrast exceptionally well, especially when it came to leading this year’s group.

What they both share is a dogged work ethic and competitive edge and neither tolerates losing. This year, the two seniors really hit it off and will end their careers in the final game of the season.

“We’ve grown a lot closer and we knew we needed to because we’re captains and need to stay connected and communicate really well,” Weglos said. “We have seen so much over the past four years and it makes this so much more exciting because we know how much work we’ve put into it. I can’t describe how much she deserves it.”

Kaiser broke out in a big way as a junior, leading Upper Dublin in scoring with a calm, controlled and efficient game. Funsten and his staff had a feeling that Kaiser was going to become the team’s leading scorer, even if her statistics didn’t tell that same story.

The youngest of three siblings, Kaiser was planning to follow her older sister down the soccer path until she got cut from her eighth grade team. That was the spark that led the senior to devote herself to basketball and Kaiser credited her dad Ken for being the first person to put in the time to help her improve.

“It wasn’t until I became a starter that it all happened and I think practicing a lot on my own or with my dad helped me get to where I am,” Kaiser said. “I’d always played township basketball and when I got cut from my soccer team, that’s when I started to play AAU and really got more into basketball and fell in love with it.”

They worked on everything together and even played one-on-one while she started playing AAU and in Fusnten’s estimation, never missing a workout with Upper Dublin. The forward’s scoring numbers dropped a bit this season due to a number of factors including teams keying on Kaiser, the emergence of sophomore center Jackie Vargas and the Cardinals’ greater balance offensively.

Still, even when she wasn’t scoring, Kaiser remained a consistent factor by turning her energy elsewhere like rebounding or defending. In the state quarterfinals against Abington, the senior had just two points but pulled down a team best eight boards and her help defense was a major factor.

“She’s very even-keeled, she doesn’t get too high or too low and she’s as under control and as good of a finisher as we’ve had,” Funsten said. “She’s incredible around the basket, she can use both hands, has post moves and even step out and hit the three. This is a girl who’s going to score about 900 points in her career in pretty much two seasons.”

While Kaiser lets Weglos make most of the impassioned speeches to the team, she found her voice more and more as the season went on. Whether it was on the floor, calling out helpers or screens on defense or off the floor, like when she and Weglos held a team meeting during districts, Kaiser understood her role as a team leader.

Funsten noted that when she talks, the other players listen because of how hard she works. He’s not just saying that either, the proof is in the numerous bruises and black-and-blue marks covering Kaiser’s knees.

“I was really frustrated with where we were and thought of not making states my senior year wasn’t something I wanted to experience,” Kaiser said. “Maggie and I both addressed the team and I think that’s been a turning point for us this season. It’s changed my game being more of a vocal person on the court.”

During offseasons, Funsten always gave Kaiser a couple of things to work on, as he does with every player in the program. Without fail, the next time he saw her, the forward had always improved in every area he had asked her to.

“For her to follow that with the success she’s had, it’s really rewarding,” Funsten said. “The worst thing to see as a coach is someone put the work in and it doesn’t pay off. The best is when someone works and to see it pay off, which it certainly has with Nicole.”

Like Weglos, Kaiser had some college interest to play at the next level but has decided not to play after this season. Kaiser felt like if she went to any of the schools after her, it would have been only to play basketball and that’s not what she wanted.

Instead, the senior has decided to attend the University of Central Florida and is interested in pursuing marine biology.

Kasier hopes the numerous younger players on UD’s varsity and JV rosters can learn from her and the path she took from situational role player to team leader. She cited the coaches’ ability to help players prepare and improve and if the underclassmen are willing to work, there’s plenty of opportunity for them.

“I hardly played my sophomore year and started all of my junior year, you can never get down on yourself and if you keep working hard, you can get what you want,” Kaiser said. “Hard work pays off and I hope they always leave it all out on the floor but also know sometimes you can win a game before you even get there by preparing.”