She attacked the basket, because that’s what Izzy Hutchinson does. When the shot late in the game came off the glass, she attacked for the rebound, because of course she did. She twisted an ankle and fell. On her back, she saw Limestone going the other way. She got up, limping, and beat the ball to the other end, because of course she did.

What happened at the other end, I have no idea. Just watching Izzy Hutchinson all night had long since worn me out.

Later, Bob Becker, the Potters' coach, talked about his team. “We competed extremely hard tonight. We were just relentless on offensive rebounding, getting second chances, attacking and getting to the free throw line, 20 of 29 I think we were.”

He might have said all that about Hutchinson, a 5-foot-8 senior guard. In the first quarter, she had eight points, a layup and six straight free throws. She had been relentless in the paint, creating a way to the rim where none previously existed, because of course she did. Her motor never idles, and it was running hot when she put the game away early in the third quarter.

The Potters led, 33-22. Limestone clung to hope. But at 4:50 of the third, Hutchinson turned a lazy Limestone pass at mid-court into a break-away bucket. Next time she had the ball, flying downcourt, she slowed up in the lane to do a Patrick Mahomes handoff to Addy Engel arriving a step later.

That made it 37-22 and I counted it over, because of course it was. No way the Potters, now 9-3 and on a five-game winning streak, would contrive to lose from 15 up to a 4-9 team that has lost games by 34 and 50 points. The Potters are now 4-0 in the Mid-Illini Conference, Limestone is 1-3.

Here’s persuasive evidence of the Potters dominance tonight. They began every quarter on a scoring run. They went 7-0 in the first, then 8-1, 8-0, and 10-3 in the fourth. That’s 33-4. Good teams do that. Here are rarer numbers: Morton had more offensive tebounds (17) than Limestone had on defense (15).

If you were wondering, as I was, about the Potters generous use of their bench tonight, here’s how Izzy Hutchinson explained it:

“In practice this week, Coach said a deflection in practice is a turnover in a game. In the game, if you make a mistake, a turnover, anything, if that happens, no matter who you are, the first sub off the bench who gets to the scoring table, replaces you. It’s to kind of hold people accountable.”

A smile here.

“It worked really well for us tonight.”

Bob Becker said, “Turnovers . . . .”

The coach, in his 25th season, put a veteran's curled-lip spin on that word, turnovers, as if speaking of a reptile, the evil yellow-bellied turnover, poisonous to all basketball coaches. I was not surprised to hear him go on.

“Turnovers can drive me personally insane,” he said. “They can make me angry, upset, and probably not the most positive human being.” (Morton 12 turnovers, Limedtone 22)

So it was fine by him that his bench players rushed to replace people making turnovers.

“Whoever gets there first, plays,” he said.

Engel led the Potters with 18 points, 7 rebounds. Hutchinson had 15 and 9. Ellie VanMeenen scored 9, Paige Selke 8, Payton Hays 5, Abby VanMeenen 2, Katie Brock 2, Anja Ruxlow 1.