Uncharacteristically, the Morton High School Lady Potters lost most of a big lead in the fourth quarter tonight before remembering how they win important games. Once up by 20, they led by only seven with two minutes to play. Then they made 9 of 10 free throws – eight in a row by Josi Becker – to finish a 63-49 victory over Normal West and advance to the semifinals of the State Farm Holiday Classic, a prestigious tournament the three-time state champions have never won.

Well, that’s some dull reporting.

Let’s get to the part about Caylie Jones with the magic handles on that fast break.

With the Potters leading by 17 and seemingly nothing to worry about, here came Jones with the basketball, running free at midcourt. Ahead and on the left wing was Kassidy Shurman. The two of them ran at one poor defender back-pedaling in the paint. So what’s a girl to do in this case?

“I’ve told them that because they can’t dunk,” their coach, Bob Becker, said, “they need to do something fancy with the ball to get the crowd into the game.”

On a 2-on-1 break with a minute left in the third quarter, Jones had some fancy ball-handling on her mind.

“Summers in AAU, my dad is always telling us to do fancy stuff with the ball,” the Potters’ senior said. “So when I saw we were 2-on-1 . . .”

On the run, she dropped a behind-the-back pass to Shurman – just tapped the right side of the ball, really, sending it around her back to Shurman, who by then was under the hoop. The crowd in the Normal Community High
School gym didn’t catch on immediately. But the Potters’ bench did, everyone bouncing up in anticipation of Shurman’s layup.

Alas, the defender recovered and forced Shurman to get rid of the ball, and all was for naught as the possession fell apart.

Still, that daredevil moment was symbolic of the Lady Potters’ growing confidence as they near the regular season’s halfway point. On a nine-game winning streak, they are 12-1. They have won those nine games by margins of 23, 1, 27, 26, 15, 36, 18, 60, and 14. Perhaps the one-point, buzzer-beater victory over the Monroe Cheesemakers, a top-tier Wisconsin team, gave the Potters real reason to feel good about themselves. In any case, after tonight’s victory over a solid Normal West team, Bob Becker said words he loves saying: “We are being consistently excellent.”

Throwing out the 86-26 cakewalk with Chicago North Lawndale, the Potters yet are averaging 60.5 points in the streak while giving up 40.5.

Now, about deflections . . .

Deflections? You may ask, “Deflections?” I love deflections. A defender knocks away a pass. It messes up the other guys’ offense. It gives every defender reason to get serious. It makes every ball-handler wonder if they’ll ever complete a pass without interruption.

Yes, deflections. Coaches keep track of deflections because they show who’s really working on defense, sliding into passing lanes, anticipating the offense’s movements.

So, I asked Brooke Bisping, an assistant coach who kept track of such things tonight, “How many deflections for Lindsey?”

Lindsey Dullard is a 6-foot-1 sophomore best known for her shooting. She can drill it from downtown.

“Ten,” Bisping said.

“And five or six steals,” the coach said.

“And two blocks,” Bisping said.

This, then, is to introduce Lindsey Dullard, defensive prodigy. As the point on the Potters’ 1-2-2 full-court press, Dullard is a formidable obstacle.

“She’s using her length better and better,” Becker said. “She’s hard to throw around or over.” When the Potters’ pair of 6-footers, Dullard and Tenley Dowell, conspire in the press to trap a ball-handler, the ball-handler is in big trouble because as soon as she throws a pass out of that trap, if she can throw one at at all, it’s subject to theft by another Potter.

“I felt more confident on the defensive end tonight than on the offensive end,” Dullard said. Then she smiled as she said, “Defense kind of made up for my offense tonight.”

And when one of your team’s best shooters is liking her work on defense, a coach is liable to say what Bob Becker said of Dullard tonight: “When she blossoms, she’s going to be even more special than she has been.”

Journalistic responsibility requires that mention the Normal West fourth-quarter rally. Down 20, they cut Morton’s lead to seven at 52-45 with 2:05 to play. They did it mostly with driving layups that were contested poorly by Morton’s defenders. After that, Morton ended the game on an 11-4 run, mostly on Josi Becker’s free throws.

Dowell led Morton’s scoring with 17. Dullard and Josi Becker had 10 each. Courtney Jones scored 9, Shurman 6, Caylie Jones 4, Megan Gold 4, and Maddy Becker 3.