Peoria High 56

Lady Potters 38

From a distance, this one promised to be trouble. Up close, it was.

Peoria High came to the Potterdome tonight on an eight-game winning streak that made its season record 14-2 and moved it to #7 in the state’s latest Class 3A poll. Meechie Edwards, the Lions’ coach, was in full-throated roar, as always, and his team found its own authoritative voice with a 12-0 run in three minutes of the fourth quarter that ended any thoughts the Potters had of an upset.

Down by 12 entering the fourth, and despite making only 5 of 12 free throws to that point, Morton trailed only 35-28 with 6:11 to play. Then Peoria sprinted away on a 15-footer, another from there, a layup, a 3-pointer, and a layup-and-one for the killing dozen points. Truth is, the Lions hardly needed those points; their defense, quick and relentlessly aggressive, already had harassed/trapped/frightened Morton into so many turnovers (19 at that point) that I quit counting.

It was almost fun for a half. Only a 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Peoria a 20-17 halftime lead. I can’t say it was ever truly fun because even in a three-point game the Lions were always dominant. They showed it in the third quarter. That suffocating, ball-hawking defense forced the Potters into nine turnovers in the quarter. Four 3’s helped them win the quarter, 14-5. After that, the issue was never really in doubt.

Now, here’s a sentence often typed in the last 12 seasons: One team was clearly better than the other. Of course, in days past, that “one team” was always Morton. But not tonight. Not when Peoria made 10 3’s (to Morton’s 3), dominated the paint, never let the Potters breathe on offense, and won going away.

“They’re definitely a better team right now,” the Potters’ coach, Bob Becker, said. “They’re difficult to guard. They’re skilled at a lot of spots. It’s not just one or two kids.”

The Potters are now 11-6, losers in three of their last four games, and their schedule offers little respite. Friday in the Potterdome they play Dunlap, with whom they share second place in the Mid-Illini Conference at 4-1 (13-3 overall). A week from tonight they go to league-leading Washington, another of Class 3A’s top-10 teams.

All this with an offense going nowhere. In the Potters last three losses, they have had quarters in which they scored 7, 5, 6, 6, and 5 points while losing by 5, 10, and tonight’s 18.

“So we gotta find a way,” Becker said. “It may not be exciting, but maybe we gotta play games in the 30’s.”

Morton’s scoring tonight: Tatym Lamprecht 16 (with all the team’s 3’s), Izzy Hutchinson 8, Addy Engel 8, and two apiece from Julia Laufenberg, Ellie VanMeenen, and Graci Junis.