Some nights you got rhythm, some nights not so much. For the Morton High School Lady Potters, tonight was one of those not-so-much’s. Two plays in the Potters’ 50-33 victory at Metamora are illustrative.

Play 1: Somehow, Metamora scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to cut Morton’s 17-point lead to 36-30. About then, the Potters decided something needed to be done. Working from a man-to-man press, the littlest Potter, 5-foot-2 ½ guard Kassidy Shurman, stood on her tippy-toes and then rose even higher to slap the basketball out of a Metamoran’s hands. She chased it down near mid-court. She then saw Josi Becker filling a right-side lane. A quick pass to Becker, a layup, the start of a 9-0 run, and order was restored to the universe. At 45-30 with under three minutes to play, Game Over.

Play 2: A beauty, this was. In the game’s last minute, Shurman had the ball near mid-court. The Potters’ coach, Bob Becker, shouted, “Back cut!” Josi Becker, perhaps hearing dad’s order, ran a back cut down the lane’s left side. Shurman bounced a perfect pass through traffic that Becker caught on the run and in the same instant bounced a pass across the lane to Jacey Wharram on the low block. No movement of the ball could have been executed more swiftly. Wharram’s layup was a cinch. Alas. Not so much a beauty. The ball rolled out of bounds.

So it went on a night when the Potters did a few things well and a few more not so well. Down early 11-5, Morton went on a 17-2 run for a lead it never gave up. The run featured three 3-pointers – by Shurman, Becker, and Lindsey Dullard.

Even that run was symbolic of the night’s goings-on. The Potters are a good perimeter-shooting team, averaging almost 8 3-pointers a game. Still, they had serious trouble against Metamora’s 2-3 zone. Outside of that 17-2 run, they made only one other 3; they were 4-for-14 from outside in the first half, 0-for-5 the second. Then there was the rebounding. All-stater Brandi Bisping played much of the game in her second outing after a bout of mononucleosis. Still, the Potters scored on only one rebound while Metamora had three put-backs. Most telling, too often for too long, the Potters’ offense never moved with the daring and freedom that so often has allowed it to dictate a game’s action.

Ah, maybe I’m picking nits. It’s January, not late February. It’s the state’s No. 1-ranked Class 3A team against a Mid-Illini Conference mediocrity. Some nights are magical, some are snores. Anyway, a win is a win is a win. Wins are always nice, however achieved, and the Potters are now 17-1 for the season and 8-0 in the Mid-Illini. And it’s especially nice to win at the other guys’ place, even if you do remember that five weeks ago you had that same team down by 30 at your place with two minutes to play.

“We’ll take road wins,” the Potters’ coach, Bob Becker, said, content with the 17-point victory three nights after winning by 18 at Washington.

Tenley Dowell led Morton’s scoring with 13. Shurman had 10, Becker 7, Wharram 6, Bisping 5, Caylie Jones 4, Dullard 3, and Courtney Jones 2.

Here, a confession . . .

Oh, no, is what I thought when I saw the Metamora kids walk into the gymnasium.

Six, all carrying drums.

Oh, no, another pep band, is what I thought.

The drummers climbed to the top row, and then came the brass, trombones and trumpets, all those noise-makers climbing up the bleachers, except for the tuba guy who apparently gets a doctor’s slip excusing him from climbing steps while carrying heavy objects.

Oh, no, is what I thought because I am in trouble with pep bands for having written that Washington High’s pep band, a year ago, performed with all the rhythm and subtlety of a train wreck in your living room.

And here came Metamora High School’s pep band.

And guess what?

It saved the reputation of pep bands everywhere, for the Redbird pep band first played the Star Spangled Banner with grace and dignity, and throughout the game played music recognizable as music, played it at appropriate times at appropriate decibel levels, and, most blessedly, sat silent when silence was called for.

There is a God.