By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Middle Township High girls basketball program has a long history of winning championships, and the Panthers came into this year’s Cape-Atlantic League Tournament as the No. 2 seed. Still, all the players on this year’s roster had never played in a league title game, as the Panthers were ousted in the quarterfinals or semifinals the past three years.
They were nervous on Saturday in front of a packed house at Egg Harbor Township High, and it showed, as Middle scored just nine first-half points and trailed by seven at the break. Leading scorer Reagan Powell, a junior, was held scoreless the entire first half and the Panthers suffered through a slew of turnovers and missed shots.
But Powell came alive with 15 points in the second half, and the Panthers outscored fifth-seeded Holy Spirit 22-9 in the fourth quarter to score a 42-32, come-from-behind victory and claim their first league title since 2016.
“We were a little shaken up in the beginning because we were nervous, but we settled in, and in the second half we just played our game. It was pretty much just sticking to what we know. We were moving a little too fast and getting a little worked up, so we tried to just take a step back and take a breath and get some easy buckets,” Powell said. “They had some great defense on me in the first half and I was worked up, so I just had to take a step back, take a breather, get one easy bucket going and get a flow and just finish out strong. We were down in the first half so (my coaches) were telling me it was time to go and get some buckets so we could win. I got a good flow going so I just kept attaching the basket. I knew I was going to draw some fouls, so I was just taking it one bucket at a time just so we could fight back on them.”
“Reagan is the core to our team, she holds us all together,” said senior forward Isabelle Toland, who hit a couple of big 3-pointers in the second half and finished with eight points. “(I told her) ‘Reagan, take it to the hole and draw these fouls, you’re going to get an and-one.’ She does it, and she doesn’t stop. Once we get those rebounds and put them back up, (Reagan and Sarah) know they are going to get those fouls drawn.”
The teams were tied at 23 with a little less than six minutes to go when Middle Township coach John Leahy called a timeout to settle his players down.
“We go into halftime and everyone was disappointed with the way we played, but I told them that we couldn’t have played any worse. The most important thing was, we get to halftime, and obviously we’re struggling, but they only had 16 points. So we if we would just continue to commit to defense and rebounding, the offense will come around. The defense and rebounding are going to keep us in most games, and you saw in the second half Izzy hit a shot right off the bat, Reagan found a stick-back and we just started getting in a little bit of a groove and really settled in,” Leahy said. “I thought our defense was consistent all game, and we said in a timeout when it was tied with about 5 (minute) and change, I said, ‘listen, if you had said to us yesterday just go win the last five minutes, we would have all been like, OK, let’s go do it.’ I felt like we did a good job staying connected to our shooters, and they missed a couple of layups. But overall, I felt like we did a good job of running their shooters off the line; on their drives staying big and not fouling, and just trying to make it hard on them. Fortunately, we did, and we found some easy baskets down the other end.”
Powell put the Panthers up, 26-23, with a three-point play, but Spirit (18-9, 6-6 Cape-Atlantic American) responded with 4:27 left when Sabrina Little answered with a three-point play of her own. But then Powell scored four straight points, on a driving layup and two free throws, to put the Panthers up, 30-26.
They never trailed again.
“It starts with free throws. We’re big on free throws in practice, especially making them in these big moments. So we were all just taking each free throw one at a time, and knocking them down just to get a flow going,” Powell said. “(At halftime) I was just a little worked up. I needed to take a step back, get one easy bucket going and I knew the rest were going to fall.”
With 2:50 left, Sarah Farrow, who was in foul trouble most of the game, converted a three-point play to push the lead to 33-26 for Middle (22-5, 10-2 CAL American). Farrow finished with nine points and 15 rebounds.
“I really just kind of locked in, tried to zone out all the noise that was going on,” Toland said of her two big second-half 3-pointers. “It was just me and the basket, just knock down my shots and once I started to get into a groove we all just kind of came together. We were drawing fouls and taking it to the bucket so that we could close out this game.”
“(Farrow) did a great job of managing her fouls. I felt like in the second half, like everyone else, she kind of slowed down a little bit. Her activity in getting us extra possessions really is a difference maker for us,” Leahy said. “We talk every game, every practice, about finding easy baskets, finding extra possessions. You saw Sarah and Reagan, and even Kenz (McKenzie Palek) — she does a great job of finding long rebounds and getting us extra possessions. Izzy (Toland) hit a three off an offensive rebound, and those are game changers.”
The fact that Middle, one of the top programs in the CAL and a two-time defending sectional champion, hasn’t won the title in nearly a decade shows just how tough this tournament is to win. The Panthers lost to Ocean City in the finals in 2017 and 2019, with their last title coming in a 36-34 overtime win over Ocean City in 2016.
“It means a lot because we haven’t won since 2016, so it means a lot to have this team come together and finally come to the championship, play in front of all these people, and actually win. It’s a great feeling,” Toland said.
“This is a really hard tournament to win. I have a lot of respect for the other teams and the other coaches in our league,” Leahy said. “This is more about the regular season and navigating through the whole conference schedule to put yourself in the No. 2 seed where you’re getting home games. This is a product of all the work we’ve put in the last couple of years. This is a hard tournament to win, so I’m super proud of our program, super proud of all our coaches and players.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Middle Township hosts Eastern on Monday at 4 p.m. Holy Spirit hosts Wildwood on Monday at 4 p.m.
