The Morton Lady Potters (19-2) lost to Galesburg (18-5) by the score of 37-40 in Galesburg on Monday, January 16th, in their 3rd game of the Martin Luther King Classic.  On this day, the Lady Potters came out flat, allowed 26 points in the first half, turned the ball over 19 times, wasted shot opportunities and basically looked like a team that was not on the same page for most of the game.

I heard a lot of people talking after the game and asking a lot of questions…  What happened?  Was Galesburg really that good?  Why didn’t we shoot any threes?  Why couldn’t we score more?  What was wrong with us?  Will they still be #1? Where do they go from here?

I can’t say that I have the answers to all of those questions, but I think taking a step back and giving the loss some perspective is probably worthwhile.  Yes, the loss made a dreary MLK Day seem even drearier, but I wouldn’t go rushing out to sell your stock in the Lady Potters just yet. Each of the last two seasons (State Championship seasons) and every season since I have been watching these girls play basketball, there have been points during the season, usually resulting in a loss, that the team makes uncharacteristic mistakes, misses shots they usually make, and play back on their heals, rather than up on their toes.

Each of the last two years the 2x Defending State Champs have lost games during the season.  Who can forget losing to Canton twice two years ago (once at home after leading by 9 at halftime) and that same year taken to the woodshed and given a major butt whoopin by Normal UHigh at the State Farm Classic.  How about scoring 5 points in the first half at East Peoria and being down by 20 points at halftime, before losing that game to EAST PEORIA. Then the very next morning, losing again to a below average Quincy Notre Dame team. There was a lot of hand wringing that day, that is for sure. Two losses in a row!

What all those losses had in common is that they were used as building blocks for the team to reach greater consistent excellence and to correct mistakes.  Those losses lead to discovery, bonded those teams to revisit the goals they had as a team together and a new energy was born from the ashes of those losses.

Losing is never fun.  It’s always humbling.  But, it always gives teams the opportunity to learn, grow and become better.  Some teams take advantage of that opportunity and some don’t.  The teams of the last two years certainly did and I have a feeling this team will as well.

For one thing, this coaching staff is very good at refocusing teams after a loss.  They have been able to see where the shortcomings are and direct their efforts towards turning those weaknesses into strengths.  They have a good understanding of the opportunities that losing can bring.

Also, this team is full of talented, smart, committed basketball players that genuinely seem to care for each other and are capable of putting the team goals before their own.  They are all coachable players that have an incredible passion for team success.  I believe they are certainly capable and willing to learn from losses, embrace the opportunity to improve and find a way to overcome adversity in any form.  That, my friends, is why I’m confident these Lady Potters will bounce back and become the toughest out in the tournament come the end of the season.

A little more about the game.  Morton had beaten perennial power Galesburg 7 straight times.  Most of these girls had never lost a game to Galesburg, in the Winter and are now used to playing against the type of adversity that playing in Galesburg brings.  Were they overconfident?  Not hungry enough to focus and bring their best level of focus and execution?  Other distractions? I don’t know, but I do know this.  As poorly as Morton played as a team, consistently throughout that game, they still were in position to win it until the final seconds.

Galesburg is not a bad team.  They are 18-5 and one of the best teams the Lady Potters played all year.  They start 5 seniors and have been a top 10 team the past two years.  None of those seniors had ever beaten Morton in during their school season careers.  They played with more fire than Morton.  Played as a team and took advantage of the mistakes Morton made. So the point is, Galesburg was primed and ready to compete with the #1 ranked Class 3A team in the State.  That is the answer to the question, is Galesburg that good.

Morton showed only flashes of their potential throughout the game.  Coach Becker was quoted as saying it best I think.  He said something to the effect that you can’t turn the ball over 19 times in a low scoring game and expect to win.  That, in a nutshell, is the answer to the question, what happened.

Morton has been widely known for being a perimeter team.  A team that shoots 15-20 threes a game and makes 7-8 per game.  That is 21-24 points per game from behind the arc.  Morton averages about 60 points a game, so we are talking about 1/3 of their average points coming from the 3-point line.  Guess how many points Morton got from behind the arc in this game.  Zero.  In fact, they only shot three from behind the arc.  Was this Galesburg’s defense?  Probably some, Galesburg has a lot of quick athletic guards and they cover a lot of space.  But I don’t think that was the entire reason.  I think this also goes back to the turnovers.  19 turnovers means 19 less shot attempts.

Let me be clear.  Turnovers are typically a team issue and not a player issue.  Most turnovers occur because the team is not functioning as it should.  Some occur because of bad decision making, but most occur because the team’s offense is not clicking on all cylinders.  Fortunately, turnovers can be corrected easily and not something I expect to plague this team very often.

The team also could have rebounded better, gotten more loose balls, made some easy shots and played harder and more focused throughout the game.  I expect that these are all things that the coaches will have the team working on and the end result will be… an improved team.

This may not happen over-night, but it might and I expect it will sooner than later.  This Morton team is still very, very, very good and my expectations is that this loss to Galesburg will make them even better when it counts.