Sorry, you good Canton folks. I gotta say this. The Morton Lady Potters pulverized you tonight, 71-41. But I’d rather they had Culverized you. Just two more 3’s would’ve given the Potters 10 for the night. And the 10 3’s would have given all of us FREE ICE CREAM! at the Culver’s fast-food restaurant in town.

“Any ice cream?” I asked.

“Yes, any ice cream,” came a highly unofficial response from a highly unofficial source, namely a guy happy to be bumming free Milk Duds from me at that moment.

FREE ICE CREAM! It was the first such promotion connected to a Potters game. Ten 3’s and we all get a coupon that gets us FREE ICE CREAM! And what’s better than FREE ICE CREAM! when it’s freezing out? I’d rather have a free butter burger with fries, a large Coke, and two warm cookies. But that’s just me. Anyway, the way the Potters throw in 3’s, Culver’s couldn’t run the risk of giving away a night’s profits. (Canton folks qualified for the giveaway, too, and somebody should’ve told Canton’s players, “Hey, let ‘em shoot! We can take home FREE ICE CREAM! from Culver’s!!)

At halftime, Culver’s had no worries. The Potters led in their Mid-Illini Conference season opener, 37-14. A 17-2 run had done the deed — five different Potters scored, the run started by a Raquel Frakes 3 and her rebound-and-full court drive leadng to a Peyton Dearing 3.By the Morton was well on its way to a fifth victory in six games, but the real story was the FREE ICE CREAM! They’d made only three 3’s and if anyone wanted ice cream, they’d have to pony up, what, a buck and a half?

But wait. The Potters were just getting warmed up. Here came Maddy Becker, the Potters’ best from beyond the arc – a 3 in the first minute of the third quarter. A minute later, Lindsey Dullard threw in a 3, and Becker did it again in the next minute. Now we’re getting somewhere, six 3’s with 11 minutes to play. I could taste the FREE ICE CREAM!

Tenley Dowell’s 3 at 4:52 of the third made it seven 3’s.

Dearing’s 3 at 1:42 made it eight 3’s.

Can I get sprinkles on mine, FREE?

As good as all those 3’s were, they turned out to be bad for anyone wanting FREE ICE CREAM! That’s because they ran the Potters’ lead to 61-31 after three quarters, and the 30-point lead started the Mid-Illini’s running clock, a rule designed to get the danged thing over with before somebody’s psyche is irreversibly damaged – which is a nice rule, except when there is FREE ICE CREAM! at stake.

Anyway, the running clock cut down the Potters’ chances with the ball. That, and an outbreak of fumbleitis by both teams’ reserves guaranteed that the Potters would not get to the magic 10 3’s necessary. In fact, I believe the Potters managed only one shot at a 3 in the fourth quarter, that one a failure.

Alas, on this night no FREE ICE CREAM!

Becker led Morton’s scoring with 16. Katie Krupa had 11, Dearing 10, Dullard 7, Addie Cox 6, Frakes 5, Dowell 5, Bridget Wood 4, Courtney Jones 3, Megan Gold 2, and Kathryn Reiman 2.

Becker had three 3’s, Dearing two, and Dullard, Dowell, and Frakes one each.

Saturday night the Potters go to Monroe, Wisconsin, for a return match between one of Illinois’s best girls programs and one of Wisconsin’s. The Potters won last year on a last-second in-bounds play with Dullard dropping in a layup. Monroe is led by a sensational guard, Sidney Hilliard, a senior headed to the University of Wisconsin.