VIDEO: Powell, Middle enjoy big second half to rally for CAL championship

Posted: January 1st 1970

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – The Middle Township High School girls basketball team set a record no team wants Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Panthers scored just nine points in the opening half of the Cape-Atlantic League championship game, the lowest first-half scoring total in the 33-year history of the event.

That dubious record did not prevent Middle from winning, however.

Thanks to a 33-point eruption after the break, Middle was able to rally from a 16-9 halftime deficit to post a 42-32 victory over Holy Spirit to win the program’s sixth CAL championship game and first since 2016.

“The first half, I’m not even sure what to say about that,” Middle coach John Leahy said. “I didn’t think it was all that bad. It was just a matter of making a couple layups and settling in. At halftime, we’re obviously losing but they only had 16 points, so our defense and our rebounding and our commitment to that was keeping us in it. Then I thought we settled in pretty quickly in the second half.”

Junior forward Riley Powell, after being held scoreless in the first half, came alive over the final two quarters and finished with a game-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds to lead Middle (22-5). She shot 9 for 10 from the foul line, 7 for 7 in the final quarter. For her efforts, Powell was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“I thought she was fantastic,” Leahy said. “Reagen really sparked us with her activity by getting some loose balls and getting a couple stickbacks. She’s a scorer but she still needs to find easy baskets and get to the foul line and that was what she was able to do in the second half.”

After the score was tied at 26-26 with 4 ½ minutes to play, junior forward Sarah Farrow’s traditional three-point play capped a 7-0 run as Middle took a 33-26 lead with 2:45 remaining.

“We were tied with a little under six minutes left and during a timeout I just told the girls, ‘Let’s go win six minutes,’ and we got some stops and found a way to make some foul shots and make some layups,” Leahy said.

Holy Spirit never got closer than five points the rest of the way. Middle shot 12 for 14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

“We spend a lot of time practicing our free throws and we’re always talking about who needs to have the ball at the end of close games,” Leahy said. “The girls did a great job of that.”

Farrow finished with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Senior forward Izzy Toland hit a pair of timely three-pointers and added eight points. Senior guard McKenzie Palek held Holy Spirit leading scorer Sabrina Little scoreless through three quarters. Little, who entered the contest averaging more than 17 points per game, finished with seven. Junior guard Abbey Cappelletti went 3 for 4 from the foul line in the final minute.

For Holy Spirit (18-9), the loss ended a terrific run through the tournament. The fifth-seeded Spartans had beaten two higher-seeded teams – including No. 1 Wildwood Catholic – to reach the title game in head coach Scott Meile’s first season with the program.

“You have to give Holy Spirit a ton of credit,” Leahy said. “Scott has really done a nice job with their group. You can see how much they’ve grown over the course of the season.”

The tournament championship is Middle’s first since the tournament was expanded to include all of the league’s teams three years ago. Middle was seeded second in the tournament.

“This is a really, really hard tournament to win,” Leahy said. “I have a lot of respect for the other teams and coaches in our league. To win the championship, it’s a four-game, two-week stretch you have to navigate. This is a product of all the work our group has put in over the last couple years. I’m super proud of our program and I’m super proud of the players and coaches.”