The Morton Lady Potters have had a busy last 7 days. Since the loss to Galesburg on January 16th, the Potters have won 4 straight games and have improved their season record to 23-2 and 10-0 in Mid-Illini Conference.
With three days to lick their wounds, after the Galesburg game, the Potters took out some of their frustration on East Peoria, Friday, January 20th, at East Peoria, winning 80-33. There was to be no 5 point half this year at East Peoria as Morton displayed it’s dominance on the court early and often. The three point shot returned, as well as the two point shot, and every other shot that was missing 4 days earlier. The Lady Potters looked focused and determined to get the ship back on track, much to the dismay of East Peoria.
The very next morning, Saturday, January 21st, the Potters were back on the court at 10:30am to play one of the better Class 3A teams in the state. The Peoria High Lions. The Lions are currently ranked 12th, in Class 3A, in latest AP Poll and were licking their chompers to take a bite out of the 2x Defending State Champion Potters (currently ranked #2). The Lions came out fast and furious and played a physical, in your face, fast paced game.
The difference between the East Peoria team (from the night before) and the Peoria High team was night and day and it took about a half for the Potters to adapt to the different style of athlete and game. Blood on both sides was spilled throughout the game. Coach Becker said “there was blood in the coach’s box” and he wasn’t kidding. Peoria High saw their star player, Bradley signee, Jailynn Lawson, have a strong start to the game, hitting two deep threes (one that bounced in off the corner of the backboard) and seemed to penetrate at will throughout the first quarter and half of the game, before going down with an ankle injury.
Peoria High’s other senior star, 5′-11″ power forward Makenzie Jenkins, also gave Morton fits through the first half of play, scoring many of her game high 19 points in the opening half. Morton battled through Peoria High’s 1-2 punch though and withstood the body blows they were given in the first two quarters. They came out stronger and more dialed in during the second half and pulled ahead of the Lions to lead by a fairly comfortable, but single digit margin through most of the third and fourth quarters. Peoria High made one more push late in the game to cut the lead to 4 points a couple of times, but the Potters held on, and leading by 4 in the final few seconds, let Peoria High shoot an uncontested three pointer that ended the game with Morton winning 54-53. It was a hard fought win for the Lady Potters and while they again were pressured into turning over the ball (23 times), I think they found a bit of toughness in themselves and the end result was a net positive for the Lady Potters.
With their next game not scheduled for 6 more hours (5:30PM), the Lady Potters took refuge at a nearby lake house in Oak Run, which was generously offered to them to stay and relax between games (thank you to the Kuhl Family!). The rest was just what the doctor ordered after the physical game with Peoria High and the Potters looked energized and ready to go in the night cap vs. Peoria Notre Dame.
Peoria Notre Dame has everybody back from last year’s team that tested Morton in the Regional Championship in 2016 and this game was expected to be closer than it actually was. While the East Peoria game may have dulled the Potter’s instincts against Peoria High, Peoria High had sharpened them for Morton going into the game against Peoria Notre Dame. Peoria Notre Dame in no way could replicate the pressure and physical nature of the opponent the Lady Potters had just played earlier in the day and Morton came out playing with energy and sharpness to take a double digit lead early in the game and withstood a little Notre Dame push in second half to win the game 69-52.
That ended the week long Galesburg Martin Luther King tournament for the Lady Potters, winning 4 games (Lincoln Way Central 54-40, Normal U-High 48-40, Peoria High 54-53 and Peoria Notre Dame 69-52) and losing one to the tournament host Galesburg 37-40. I’m still not sure who actually won the tournament, with Morton, UHigh and G-Burg all finishing 4-1 and not all teams playing the same opponents, but I suppose in the big picture it doesn’t really matter. Fact is, the Potters were able to play against 5 decent opponents, each with different styles of play and were given the opportunity to learn some things about themselves that should prepare them well for the road that lies ahead. Speaking of the road that lies ahead, the Limestone Sectional, which #2 Morton is assigned to, has #6 Richwoods, #8 U-High, #11 Galesburg and #12 Peoria High, along with Peoria Notre Dame and the Sectional host Limestone. Limestone is currently 8-2 in the Mid-Illini and all alone in 2nd place in the conference. Morton plays Limestone at Limestone on Friday, February 3rd.
Well that was a pretty busy week all in itself I would say, but the Lady Potters had one more conference road game on Tuesday, January 24th, to finish this 7 day stretch. Morton travelled to Dunlap to play the Lady Eagles for the 2nd time this season. Dunlap had been on a roll and were feeling pretty good about themselves coming into the game. They were moving up the Mid-Illini standings and had played Richwoods pretty close a few days earlier.
The Potters gave Dunlap 15 minutes and 59 seconds of game time to feel good about their chances in this game, as they were only down 7 until that point (21-14). In the final second of the first half, Tenley Dowell drained a three that popped out whatever air was left in Dunlap’s balloon. Morton then outscored Dunlap 42-10 in the second half to win by 42. The win sets the Lady Potters’ Mid-Illini record at 10-0 and two games up over Limestone in the conference. Dunlap fell to 5-5 and in 4th place in the conference.
The Lady Potters host the Pekin Lady Dragons on Saturday, January 28th, at 6:30PM. This will also be the Annual Pink Night game for the Lady Potters , which means they will be raising money for cancer research and support for Illinois CancerCare. Please come out and support the Lady Potters and help them raise money for a great cause.
Special thanks to Don Pyles Photography for the fantastic pictures from these four games. If you are interested in purchasing digital copy rights to any of these photos on the website, you may contact Don Pyles at snazy85@mtco.com
Don Pyles Photography: PDR_6528
