Dunlap 59

Lady Potters 38

The good news: When Tatym Lamprecht threw in her fourth 3-pointer and Ellie VanMeenen followed with a banked-in 3 from the top of the key and Addy Engel added a free throw, the Potters led at halttime, 29-27.

After that, nothing but bad news.

Third quarter, the Potters scored three points.

Fourth quarter, six points.

Outscored in the second half, 32-9.

By Dunlap. Dunlap is a good team in these parts, 14-3 overall, maybe the second-best team in the Mid-Illini Conference. But c’mon. It’s Dunlap. Dunlap is not a great team. Dunlap does not take your heart out and stomp that sucker flat.

But Dunlap scored the first 13 points of the third quarter and then, after a Lamprecht free throw, it scored six more. It outscored Morton in the third, 22-3.

Somewhere in there, Morton called timeout. For the longest time in that timeout – and time moves slowly in such dismal situations – the Potters’ coach, Bob Becker, must have set a record for silence. He crouched in front of his team and said nothing. Finally, he spoke softly. And whatever he said, it did not end the night’s mysteries.

“I asked them in the locker room afterwards, ‘What happened in the second half?’” he said.

Lamprecht got one shot in the second half, a futile fling on a drive into traffic. The Potters’ only field goal, other than two late layups, was a 12-footer by Graci Junis in the third quarter; by then, the Potters’ offense was a stuttering mess of weak passes and uncertain movement.

As in three or four games lately, the Potters played as well as possible for a while – that first half – followed by an extended time in which they played as poorly as possible. They have now lost four of their last five games and are 11-7 overall.

“Dunlap came out with more intensity in the third quarter,” Becker said. In those poor stretches, the coach said, “The opponent is playing harder, tougher, scrappier, mentally and physically, than we are. We gotta do some soul-searching.”

Morton’s scoring tonight: Lamprecht 17, Engel 10, Izzy Hutchinson 4, VanMeenen 3, Junis 2, Ruby Brubaker 2.