The Lower Cape May Regional High School girls basketball trailed Moorestown 39-31 with about 3 1/2 minutes left Thursday. The Lady Tigers then staged a furious rally ensuring that their season wouldn;t come to an abrupt end.

Stephanie Dugan's two free throws with 13.6 seconds to play capped a 9-0 Lower Cape May run to close the game to give the Lady Tigers a thrilling 40-39 victory in a South Jersey Group III quarterfinal.

It was the third straight evening a playoff game involving a local club when down to the last possession or was decided in overtime.

The victory was Lower Cape May's first in the state playoffs since the 2001-02 season, and it came in front of the largest crowd of the season for a basketball game at the school, with a student section of about 150 spectators donned "Sixth Man" T-shirts to cheer for the Lady Tigers.

"I'm really happy for the seniors and for all the kids to get the experience of winning a playoff game," said Lower coach Roy Wright. "I said in the preseason that I knew this was going to be a group that I would really enjoy working with and now I get to work with them for at least two more days."

The win moves second-seeded Lower Cape May into a sectional semifinal game against 10th seeded Shawnee on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Alex Matthews, whom Wright said played the best game of her career, knocked down a three-point shot and hit a tough bank shot in the lane to sraw Lower to within three points. Janzell Rodriguez then made a difficult scoop shot off the glass to draw the Lady Tigers within a point.

With less than a minute to play, Moorestown missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Lower Cape May possession. Out of the team's spread offense, Dugan drove down the right side of the lane and was fouled with 13.6 seconds to play and calmly made both foul shots to give Lower its first lead since the first half.

"Obviously, I felt very good that it was Dugan on the line," Wright said. "She's one of the best foul shooters in our league."

Moorestown raced down the floor and got off two shots, both of which were heavily contested by the Lady Tigers. After the ball was batted around a couple of times following the second miss, Dugan pounced on the loose ball to the left of the lane as time expired, touching off a wild celebration at center court.

Matthews scored 12 points and Dugan and Khadijah Clark each added seven points in the win. Victoria Wermuth, given full medical clearance to play only a few hours before the game in the wake of an emergency appendectomy earlier this month, chipped in five points.