‘Mid-Illini Dominance’
Morton’s Senior Class (2020) has seen unprecedented success this season & in their Morton Lady Potter careers. They are approaching the ‘Pinnacle of Perfection’ in terms of Mid-Illini Conference dominance, as they look to go 56-0 in Mid-Illini Conference play over their 4 years at Morton. Senior Captains & 4-year Varsity veterans, Lindsey Dullard & Courtney Jones knew, coming into the season, that if they could run the table one more time, they would accomplish something that no other team, or player, had done before in going undefeated all 4 years in Conference play & they made it one of their goals. So far so good for the Lady Potters as they are currently at 54 wins and 0 losses going into the final week of Conference play. Wins over Limestone (Tuesday, Feb 11th) & Dunlap (Friday, Feb 14th) would see the Lady Potters reach their goal of Perfection on Senior Night!
Morton’s Seniors have not only won all 54 of their previous Conference games, they have won them in impressive fashion, outscoring their Mid-Illini opponents by an average of 32.19 points per game over the last 4 years. This season, through 12 games, the Lady Potters have a 31.92 point differential against Conference opponents.
Sounds impressive, even before you mention that in most of these Conference games, the Lady Potter starters only played 18-20 minutes per game (because of their ginormous leads), vs the 25-30 minutes per game of starters from several other schools.
So you might think these Lady Potters could possibly overlook a Conference opponent some night right? After all of their success, it would seem possible, if not probable. “Not a chance!” says Jones, who has played in all 54 victories. “It really boils down to not looking past anyone and bringing your best effort each & every night. It may sound cliche, but we really do attack each game one at a time. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have the success we have had”, she explains. Dullard echoes, Jones’ assessment & adds “We love every opportunity to compete. We don’t care what the opponent’s record is or whatever success we have had against them in the past”. Jones adds “It’s just what we do!”
‘A Numbers Game’
The Lady Potters have had some incredible numbers to reflect on this season & this bodes well for the posts-season. Take look at some of these interesting numbers:
1355 – Career Points so far by Lady Potter Sr Capt Guard Lindsey Dullard
735 – Number of Points scored by the Morton Lady Potters in 12 Conference games
352 – Number of Points allowed by the Morton Lady Potters in 12 Conference games
184 – Number of made 3-pointers by the Morton Lady Potters this season
150 – Sr Capt Point Guard Courtney Jones Assist total so far this season (3:1 AST Ratio)
124 – Sr Capt Point Guard Courtney Jones Rebound total so far this season
94 – Jr Forward Raquel Frakes’ current broad jump in inches
87 – So Katie Krupa’s Free Throw Shooting %
79 – Current Team Free Throw Shooting %
59 – The number of consecutive Mid-Illini victories by the Lady Potters
50 – Sr Shooting Guard Peyton Dearing’s 3-point % through 29 games (45-90)
39 – The number of consecutive games won by the Lady Potters, dating back to last season
29 – The Lady Potters are 29-0 this season heading into their Tuesday match-up with Limestone
28 – Jr Forward Raquel Frakes’ current vertical in inches
27 – The number of Rebounds per game the Lady Potters average
9 – Number of wins needed to win a 5th State Championship in 6 years
‘Post-Season Path to Redbird’
IHSA Post-Season Assignments, Seedings and Brackets have been released & the Lady Potters will not have to travel very far for Regionals. They were assigned the #1 overall seed in the Sub-Sectional and will just make the hop, skip & jump over to Washington for their Regional play. They will start Regional action on Tuesday, Feb 18 at 6:00PM vs the winner of Streator & East Peoria. A Victory there would advance them to the Regional Championship vs the Winner of Washington & LaSalle-Peru on Friday, February 21 at 7:00PM.
If the Lady Potters advance to the Rock Island Sectional, the Sectional Semi-Finals will be played Monday, February 24 at 6:00PM, with the Sectional Final on Thursday, Feb 27 at 7:00PM. There are some outstanding teams assigned to the Rock Island Sectional. 5 of the 10 Top ranked teams in the State are assigned there with #1 Morton, #5 Peoria Central, #6 Richwoods, #7 Kankakee, #8 Geneseo, not to mention State Ranked Rock Island & Washington. Another darkhorse team that could very well be entering the post-season with 20 wins is Metamora. So the winner of the Rock Island Sectional is going to earn their ticket to the Super-Sectional, which will be played at Kankakee, on Monday, Mar 2 at 7:00PM.
The State Finals will be played Friday, Mar 6 & Saturday, Mar 7 at Redbird Arena. Old foes Montini & Chicago Simeon will likely be there waiting, as they are by far the strongest teams in their respective Sectionals. We hope you follow & support the Lady Potters along their journey. Win or lose, they will be playing their hearts out for the Lady Potter Faithful!!!
‘Don Pyles Pictures’
