Morton’s Lady Potters 71, St. Joseph-Ogden 34.
So now the Potters are 12-1, winners of eight straight, one by 50 points, one by 37, two by 30, two by 29, one by 18, the other by 17. (Notice a trend?) They’re playing so well that Bob Becker said, “They’ve got a chance.” Then he said it again, “They’ve got a chance.” And what he meant by that – that this team has a chance to win a state championship – wasn’t as important as where he said it and to whom he said it.
He said it in the locker room. He said it to his 14 players. And he said it in front of Brandi Bisping, Chandler Ryan, Jadison Wharram, Caylie Jones, Kassidy Shurman, and Josi Becker. Those old Potters, all now in college, were home for Christmas, meaning they could sneak away from the family for a couple hours in the Potterdome this afternoon.
Public address announcer Brian Newman spotted them in the bleachers and asked, “All Potter alumni, please stand.” He might as well have said, “Potter state championship history, please stand,” for those young women played for Potters’ teams that won the school’s first state basketball championship ever, in 2015, and won the championship the next two seasons as well.
So Becker’s choice of setting and audience is worth our attention because it’s high praise to say this year’s team has “got a chance” for a state championship when the locker room is full of Potters who have been there, done that, and know what it takes.
Those old Potters certainly saw enough in today’s Potters to agree with Becker. St. Joseph-Ogden is accustomed to winning. It came in with a 12-1 record (albeit in Class 2A). Yet Morton dominated every possession at both ends when it mattered. After three quarters, the Potters led, 65-34. Once again it set off the fourth quarter’s merciful running clock (the sixth time in their last seven games).
When I say “dominated every possession,” I mean the Potters caused discomfort, discombobulation, and (probably) dyspepsia. In seeming defiance of physical laws, their defenders were everywhere all at once. The worst thing that could happen for a St. Joseph-Ogden ball-handler was to have the ball in her hands. That poor girl would find herself surrounded by a swarm of previously invisible Potters. Two things happen then: 1) the poor girl makes a poor pass (Chandler Ryan, in the third row, might have caught one such pass, except her dad, Bo, intercepted it) or 2) the poor girl would have made a poor pass except she no longer had the ball because one of the Potters, all of whom work with a pickpocket’s heartless guile, had taken the ball and run off with it.
As for offense, here’s a note I made after the third bucket the Potters made in 26 seconds of the third quarter: “I DIDN’T SEE IT.” Tenley Dowell had put back a rebound at 5:57. At 5:41, Dowell dropped in a layup off an in-bounds steal. At 5:31, a Peyton Dearing steal and layup. (A neighbor reported the event that I didn’t see, Dearing being one of those invisible pickpockets.)
For the magical fun of it, here’s another moment on third-quarter offense: Dearing misses a layup, Courtney Jones bats the rebound to the top of the key where Dowell catches it and throws it to back to Dearing on the left side who gets it into Jones in the paint who flips it to Dowell slashing down the right side. All done faster than I can type it.
The only worrisome news of the day was the ankle sprain suffered by freshman Katie Krupa. Because she had missed practice yesterday, she didn’t start the game. (A long-time Becker rule.) In her first two minutes of play today, she tweaked the ankle. She stayed on the bench the rest of the way with ice on the ankle.
Dowell again led the Potters with 18 points, 16 of them in the middle two quarters. Lindsey Dullard had 14, Bridget Wood 10, Jones 9, Raquel Frakes 7, Dearing 7, Maddy Becker 4, and Megan Gold 2. (The Culver’s Report: Six 3’s. Again no FREE CUSTARD!)
The Potters now have three days off before beginning defense of their 2017 championships in the State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington-Normal. There they are seeded third, meaning they will be tested thoroughly.