Lower Cape Community Celebrates SJ Basketball Title

ERMA – What happened in Williamstown March 12 did nothing to dampen the outstanding achievement of the 2014-2015 Caper-Tiger girls’ basketball team. A loss to perhaps the state’s most outstanding individual player and a team that is the defending Garden State Group II champion does nothing to erase the magical ride of a 28-3, first-in-school-history South Jersey Championship for Lower Cape May.
There were some tears after the 77-43 loss in the state semi-final, but what matters most is how the community came together on that sun-splashed afternoon to line the campus exit as the team bus headed north for the match-up with 2014 Tournament of Champions runner-up Manasquan.
Peers, parents, teachers and staff joined in the festive send-off as cell phone cameras clicked, arms waved in jubilation, and loud cheers filled the air over Erma. Caper-Tiger spring sports teams preparing for their upcoming season joined in the show of support for their classmates.
“I think, team wise, what it meant to us when we had the fire trucks and police cars, and all of the students, teachers, parents and community members lining the path out of the high school is just indescribable,” said Caper coach Scott Douglass. “That’s what’s cool about high school sports, moments like that.”
On March 10, Lower made history with its thrilling 58-55 overtime victory over Sterling for the South Jersey Group II title. “The best memory I’ll ever have is that night,” said Douglass. “Unless you’ve been there, you can’t describe what that is like. The community and the school coming together, and winning that game.”
Douglass pointed to the team’s trip to Disney World as an important bonding time for the athletes, especially away from the court.
“That really helped,” he said. “It brought them together with free time to just hang out and be with each other. We have girls who play different sports and that trip to Florida really helped them come together as a team. That time together was huge.”
Douglas enjoyed a veteran team with six seniors, including Lauren Holden, Madie Gibson, Rian Young, Ariel Magee, Lizzy Sulecki and Carrie Wunder.
“There were some tears because it was the seniors’ last game and they’ve been playing together since the sixth grade,” said Douglass. “We didn’t play like we wanted to play, but to win that game we would have had to really play incredibly well.
Manasquan hit their shots and had some size on us.”
Holden, an outstanding talent headed to Fordham University, poured in 35 points in the South Jersey Championship game including the last 18 Lower scored. She became the first Caper-Tiger to eclipse 2,000 career points. Throughout the season she was the ultimate “go-to” player, but she was never selfish. She made team play her focus by constantly looking for teammates and making excellent passes.
“She’s a very special player, special is the word,” said Douglass. “It’s hard to describe what she’s meant to the program. She’ll obviously be very difficult to replace. We’re losing six quality people in our senior class.”
Douglass was grateful to those upperclassmen for “keeping the chemistry together” and how they “played for each other.” He said he will always remember “the fun times,” such as the trip to Disney and the March 12th send-off.
“The support from the parents, the school, the administration, and the community was so great,” he said. “This last week has been unbelievable for my team.”
The coach said he would have “hugged you” if you told him in November that the squad would finish 28-3 with a South Jersey crown.
“It’s very rewarding to practice so hard all year to reach the goals you want,” said Douglass. “You watch these girls grow and play in big games and you see things from them that you’ve never seen. They step up. That night was a hard one against a tremendous team, but we had a great season.”