No popcorn? They moved the concession stand up. Then they discovered there was no popcorn in the building. Hey, the Pep Band is a state champ! The Lady Potters are state champs three times running! And there’s no popcorn for the multitudes gathered to hear the music – a powerful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner – and to see the girls beat Metamora, 55-43.

So the concession-stand folks sent a search squad out looking for emergency popcorn. WalMart had a special offer going. How much popcorn did Morton High School buy at WalMart? Every kernel the place had. And the concessionaires sold it all.

As constant readers know, I had inveighed against the foolishness of moving the concession stand from the ok-it-can-be-chilly-there entrance to a galaxy far, far away, practically in the Steak ‘n Shake drive-through in Normal. (Full disclosure: the concessionaires sell my book on the team, “The Unbelievables,” $10, cheap at twice the price. I have two dogs and two horses to feed. We need more than an occasional box of Milk Duds. So there’s that.)

Here’s how wise it was to move the stand back to the front of the gym.. They sold out of stuff. They sold all the plain M&M’s. For Saturday’s doubleheader – LaSalle-Peru at 10:30, Lincoln at 2:30 – they have to stock up again. They need more Milky Ways, more Skittles, and more Sour Patch Kids, whatever those may be. And popcorn. Lots.

Anyway, for the first quarter tonight, playing before that well-popcorn’d crowd, the Lady Potters were efficient on offense, merciless on defense, and in every way scary-good. After Metamora scored the first three points, Morton scored the next 18. They did it in three minutes and 23 seconds. They didn’t miss a shot, going 7-for-7, four of them 3-pointers. For an idea of how good that is, let’s do the arithmetic. At that pace for 32 minutes, the Potters would outscore Metamora, 171-0.

Calling the roll on that run: Tenley Dowell started it with a 3 from the left side. Josi Becker came with a 3. Dowell hit from 15 feet. Lindsey Dullard a 3 from the deep left corner. Becker a layup produced by a Dullard deflection on the Potters press. Five seconds later – five seconds! – Becker scored on another steal of an in-bounds pas. Dullard ended the run with her second 3.

So in a game the Potters would win by 12, the state’s No. 1-ranked Class 3A team built a 15-point lead in the first 5 minutes and 15 seconds. As counter-intuitive as it seems, in that stretch Metamora played well. They handled Morton’s press and they defended well on their own press and in a 2-3 zone. Yet such was Morton’s momentum from the get-go that the Metamorans had no chance. With as much as 2:45 left in the first quarter, my note: “Met good as can be, down 18-3.”

Though Metamora played the Potters mostly even from there out – never trailing by more than 17, once moving within 10 – Morton strolled home. Coach Bob Becker substituted freely throughout; all 14 Potters played as he rested people for the Saturday doubleheader (followed by a Monday game against Peoria High, all three games part of the Galesburg Winter Classic).

“They fought us from beginning to end,” Becker said of a team his Potters beat six weeks ago, 50-27. “They didn’t wilt or sneak away with their tails between their legs.” Mostly, Metamora’s big people inside did well. The Potters allowed more second-shot possessions than Becker liked. “They hurt us on the offensive board,” he said. In addition, the Metamora stars – Anne Peters and Reagan Begole – scored 12 points each, mostly from outside, to keep the Redbirds in the hunt.

The victory, Morton’s 14th straight, gives the Potters a 17-1 record (8-0 in the Mid-Illini Conference). Metamora is 9-9.

Morton’s scoring: Dowell and Dullard 17 each, Becker and Caylie Jones 7 each, Peyton Dearing 3, Addie Cox and Courtney Jones 2 each.

The Potters were not the night’s only stars. Once again the Heat delighted us. This time the 5th-grade girls scrimmaged: Katie Brock, Sophie Davila, Addyson Gallup, Julia Laufenberg, Katherine Linville, Isabelle Mc Cully, Anja Ruxlow, Bennett Swearingen, Ellie VanMeenen, and Ella Vannaken.

And that Pep Band! I am a musical illiterate. All I know is l loved the national anthem they did tonight. Luckily, the Potters have faithful fans, the Martins, Marilyn and Wade, and Wade has become my music correspondent. (He’s finding that out right here.) Wade recently wrote me:

“I got a kick out of the announcer acknowledging the MHS Pep Band at the last game by indicating the ‘State Champion MHS Band’ was playing for the ‘State Champion Girls Basketball Team.’

“This is absolutely true – the MHS Marching Band has been what is considered the ‘state champion marching band’ in their class (medium size schools) for the last 13 consecutive years. FYI, last month the MHS Band was selected as one of four high school marching bands to be accorded ‘world class status’ for the year 2017 by the John Phillip Sousa Foundation. In the 30+ year history of this award, only one other Illinois band has been so honored (and that was awarded 20 years ago to Marian Catholic – the #1 high school marching band in Illinois.)”

Now, if only we can get some popcorn for Saturday’s doubleheader . . .