Union Ryle 62, Morton’s Lady Potters 51

Let me vent first. I propose a new IHSA rule. Any fan who believes he is a coach and shouts instructions from the bleachers can be removed from the gym. I propose this rule because tonight I sat five feet in front of a fan who never shut up, as in not ever, not once, not for a minute. His voice was its own thunderstorm. His primary genius advice to the Union players was “BOX OUT!!!” It was delivered at jet-engine decibels with three exclamation points.

He also specialized in “SHOOTER!” And “CORNERS!” And “TWO SHOTS! SHE WAS SHOOTING!!,” at which point I turned to the fan/coach/referee across the aisle and said, “She was thinking of shooting, but she wasn’t shooting, and thinking doesn’t get you two shots,” but by then the fan/coach/referee was back to roaring, “BOX OUT!!!”

How an Union fan/coach/referee wound up sitting in the Morton section is a mystery that I made no attempt to solve. And I hurry to apologize for being grumpy. I long ago decided I should never criticize sports fans. They made my job possible. Sportswriting got me cars and houses and all the golf balls I could hit into all the world’s oceans. But now? Now I’m paid in Milk Duds. Milk Duds just get me fat. I am free to say these fan/coach/referee people are obnoxious to the max. They should be voted off the island and invited back only as prey for venomous creatures.

I suppose my grumpiness rose in direct correlation to the Potters’ problems on the court tonight. Morton led by as many as eight points. It led, 36-30, two minutes into the second half. But even then there were signs of trouble ahead. I made a note that said, “Unwilling to shoot.”

It was strange. Even up by six points and, you’d think, high on a 10-game winning streak that included a thrilling comeback victory the night before, none of the Potters wanted to shoot on this night. Against the Union zone defense, they did little but pass the ball around the edges until, as these pass-pass-pass things inevitably go, someone coughed up a turnover with a careless pass or a fumbling catch.

The Union defense was standard-issue OK, quick and smart and long. It certainly wasn’t aggressive the way Chicago Simeon’s had been or the way Richwoods’ zone will attack Morton’ shooters in today’s third-place game at the State Farm Holiday Classic. The Union defense was just there. Morton’s problem was, its offense wasn’t there. It disappeared. From 36-30 ahead, Morton was beaten, 32-15, in the game’s last 14 minutes.

“Confidence is such a fragile thing,” the Potters’ coach, Bob Becker, said afterwards. “If you’re going good, it can be contagious.” (One could remember such a good night. It happened yesterday against Simeon.) “But if you’re not, it can be contagious that way, too.” (One hopes a good night’s sleep will rid the Potters of whatever loss-of-confidence bug moved through the team tonight.)

Truth is, the Potters played superbly for about a minute tonight. From 5:07 of the first quarter to 3:56, they went on a 12-0 run for a 14-7 lead. At that point, it seemed to be Morton’s kind of game – a real basketball game played by real basketball players, done smoothly and elegantly in contrast to the Morton-Simeon mud-rasslin’ match the night before. The run began with three straight 3-pointers – by Courtney Jones, Tenley Dowell, and Lindsey Dullard. It ended with Dowell’s and-one on a slash to the basket.

So that’s good. The Potters had scored 12 points in one minute and 11 seconds. But there’s really bad in that: in the game’s other 30 minutes and 49 seconds, Union won, 62-39. Yikes.

Union gained a 36-all tie at 3:26 of the third quarter. It took the lead for good at 42-40 in the quarter’s last minute and went up by eight at 48-40 in the fourth. Dullard’s 3-pointer with four minutes left cut the lead to 50-46. But the Potters’ offense again went missing. They scored only twice more as Union consistently outran them from end to end, scoring on breakaway layups and free throws.

Union is now 14-1 for the season. Morton is 14-2.

Dowell led Morton’s scoring with 16. Dullard had 15, Katie Krupa 11, Peyton Dearing 5, Jones 4.