The Morton High School Lady Potters won again tonight, at Bloomington, leaving the Purple Raiders beaten, bruised, and breathless, 68-40. The two-time defending state champion Potters did so many things so well, even sensationally, that any curmudgeonly scribe worth his box of Milk Duds is obligated to balance his report by listing all the bad things the Potters did.

The ponytail moment, for one. Late in the game, from my bleacher seat three rows behind the Potters’ bench, I saw Kassidy Shurman – it may have been Josi Becker – fiddling with her ponytail. It had come loose. Of all the bad things in girls basketball, a wild ponytail is high on the oh-no-this-is-bad list. Happily, before anyone called 911, Kassidy, or Josi, found a tie and had the ponytail arranged for further warfare.

There was Tenley Dowell’s footwear. She went through pre-game drills and was on the bench, ready to play, wearing her customary red sneakers. But coming out for the third quarter, she wore flip-flops. I’m thinking LeBron could play in flip-flops because LeBron could play blind-folded on one bare foot. But for a girl who sprained her ankle five days earlier – that’s Tenley – flip-flops were a risky choice. Of course, Tenley had no plans to play. “I wore the real shoes just to warm up,” she said.

To extend the silliness, let’s add the basketball-as-greased-pig thing. At the Morton end, the ball bounced off a Potter’s hands. It rolled across the paint. Bodies threw themselves in tangled-limbs pursuit, three or four Potters landing on the poor thing. Somehow, and I think I heard it squealing, the ball escaped. It ran toward the free throw line. From there, only a NASA satellite could have traced the ball’s movements. All I know is it wound up in Brandi Bisping’s hands. (Sooner of later, every loose ball winds up in Brandi Bisping’s bear-trap hands.) I heard her coach, Bob Becker, shout, “Power!” Bisping powered it through someone’s face. “And one!” Becker shouted, meaning Bisping was fouled, giving her a free throw, her 21st and last point of a double-double night in which she had 14 rebounds.

Undefeated in seven games, winners of 20 straight going back to last season’s state title run, and winners 73 times in their last 79 games, the Potters never gave Bloomington even a suggestion of hope. Less than three minutes into the game, Morton led, 9-0. The first seven points were scored by Dowell’s replacement in the starting lineup, freshman Lindsey Dullard. In her first varsity start, Dullard scored the game’s first seven points, all in 58 seconds – a 3-pointer at 7:12, a fast-break layup at 6:50, and a mid- court steal for another breakaway bucket at 6:14.

That Dullard fast-break layup at 6:50 – it began extraordinarily. It began with a rebound by Bisping, which isn’t the unusual part. Bisping had been knocked down under the Bloomington basket. She sat in the paint, as if at a picnic. And here came the ball, falling toward her as surely as that 17th century apple fell to earth in front of Sir Isaac Newton. Except where Sir Isaac just watched, Bisping snatched the basketball from gravity’s grasp. She flipped it to Dullard, who did the rest.

I suppose Bloomington might have considered itself in the game for a while. Though they trailed 20-9 after a quarter, the Raiders scored the second quarter’s first seven points to move within four at 20-16 with 5:57 to play in the half.

But Morton ended that consideration quickly. It went on a 12-0 run in the next three minutes and nine seconds.

First, Josi Becker made a 3-pointer. Then she made another 3 from near the same spot, at the arc’s right shoulder. Caylie Jones followed with a nifty drive down the right side of the lane, scoring with a soft hook off the board. Bisping raised the lead to 32-16 with a damned-if-I’ll-quit put-back of her own interior miss and, a half-minute later, a layup created by the Potters’ perpetual-motion offense.

Five minutes later, the Potters’ lead was 20 points on its way to 30. Game over.

Bob Becker’s list of good things: “First game on the road, good road win, we’ll take it.” “Great balance offensively. Three in double figures, another close, most points we’ve scored in a long time.” (Most in 32 games, since a 71-35 victory over Champaign Centennial on Dec. 28, 2015.) “We had Bloomington worn out in the second half.”

Bisping’s 21 points led the Potters. Josi Becker had 14, Dullard 12, Caylie Jones 8, Jacey Wharram 6, Shurman and Courtney Jones 3 each, and Maddy Becker 1. Nearly half the Potters’ points came on 3-pointers; five players divvied up 10 3’s.

One thing more. Tenley Dowell, in sneakers, will practice this week and is likely to play Friday against Limestone in the Potterdome. How much she plays depends on how the ankle reacts to practice. Bob Becker said, “If she can go hard for two hours . . .” Well, if she can go hard for two hours less than a week after that sprained ankle, it would be cause for the curmudgeon scribe to mumble, like, “Ah, to be young again.”