VIDEO: LCM overcomes ACIT to claim conference championship in Crest Savings Bank Game of the Week

Posted: January 26th 2024

The Lower Cape May Regional High School girls basketball team clinched the CAL United Conference title with Friday's win over ACIT.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF
CapeAtlanticLive.com

Kaitlyn McGuigan was crying as she dribbled the basketball in the closing seconds of Friday’s game.

They were tears of joy.

The senior point guard from Lower Cape May Regional High School couldn’t contain herself as the final seconds ticked away on a 45-34 win over Atlantic County Institute of Technology that gave the Lady Tigers the regular-season championship of the Cape-Atlantic United Conference.

“It’s been a rough four years,” McGuigan said after the game, again becoming emotional. “Basketball just means so much to me. It means everything in the world to me to win a division title for our school.”

For McGuigan, fellow starter Hailey Elwell and the team’s other seniors, the conference championship is the reward for years of perseverance in a program that had experienced some struggles. Lower’s seniors were a part of teams that went just 18-36 over the last three seasons before a breakthrough campaign this winter.

“I’m so proud of the seniors,” Lower coach Scott Douglass said. “They had a couple years there where they really went through some down years. But they kept coming in and working hard. This is the culmination of all that hard work and their leadership. I’m just very happy for them.”

Lower Cape May (13-3 overall, 10-0 CAL United) fell behind 6-2 and was having difficulty getting good looks against the Red Hawks (13-3, 8-2) for much of the first quarter. But the Lady Tigers responded, reeling off a game-changing 16-0 run to take an 18-6 lead at one point in the second quarter. Lower swelled its lead to as many as 15 points in the third quarter before holding off several ACIT charges in the final period.

“We felt the pressure but we were ready for it,” McGuigan said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. But we wanted it more than anything.”

Brooke Robinson, just a freshman, carried Lower offensively for the first three quarters. She posted 13 of her game-high 15 points before the final quarter, going 9 for 10 from the foul line. Robinson also grabbed numerous key rebounds and even blocked a couple of shots.

“We thought she’d get some opportunities,” Douglass said. “She keeps getting better and better. The best thing is, as a freshman, is that she’s not scared. She’s scoring, but she does a lot of other things, too. She rebounds for us and most of all she hustles.”

McGuigan picked up the scoring slack in the fourth quarter, netting eight of her 13 points in the period. She made each of her last seven free-throw attempts.

Lower also got an offensive boost from sophomore Ainsley Reed, who scored nine points on three three-pointers, each coming at critical junctures of the game.

There are still a handful of games left in the regular season before the Cape-Atlantic League playoff tournament and later the state tournament each begin. No matter what happens the rest of the way, Lower’s seniors can take pride in knowing they’ll go out as champions.

The conference title is Lower’s first CAL girls basketball championship since 2015.

“This means everything to me,” McGuigan said. “I couldn’t ask for a better season. All I wanted was a championship and we got it.”