Once upon a time in my younger days, I got sideways with the East Peoria folks by committing sentences that among other things described their popcorn as too salty in those skinny dollar sacks that cost a dollar too much. Now, all grown up, I have learned to behave myself. Tonight, I come to praise this season’s Raiders.

For the first time in a decade, they were good enough to catch Bob Becker’s attention. The Potters’ coach had seen them lead Mid-Illini favorite Washington by a point after a quarter. They were up on a solid Limestone team at the half. They have a little guard who can score 20 or 25 on you. They had started the season with three straight victories, and when had that ever happened?

So Becker made a strong pre-game suggestion to his Potters.

“We had a goal,” senior captain Addy Engel said, “of keeping Kylie to zero.”

Kyle Moeller is that little guard in question, a 5-foot-4 dynamo who can throw it in from everywhere.

“We did that in the first half,” Engel said.

By then it was 31-13, and Moeller’s 10 points, seven of them in the fourth quarter, meant nothing. The Potters had won their sixth straight game, their ninth in 10 games, and while it’s too soon to be definite about anything, it’s almost/kind of/sorta okay to say that the Potters, on a really good night, can beat most anybody.

We’re near halfway in the regular season, and the Potters are 10-3 with victories over everyone they should have beaten and with losses only to the best teams they’re likely to play before the state tournaments begin.

I, for one, saw that happy future tonight. I saw it in the Potters’ starting lineup. The five were seniors Engel and Izzy Hutchinson, junior Ellie VanMeenen, and freshmen Abby VanMeenen and Paige Selke.

Though they have often played together, I believe it was their first start together. On offense, they bring size, strength, and speed. Defensively, they’re quick, relentless, and mobile enough to play man-to-man, 2-3 zone, box-and-zone, 1-3-1, whatever junk works.

The first six minutes decided it. It was 15-4. Most of the scoring came on a 10-3 run that started with an Abby VanMeenen layup in front of a Hutchinson free throw. Engel followed with a rebound bucket and a 3-pointer. Paige Selke finished it off with a beautiful reverse layup.

"We wanted to come out and never even let them have a thought they could win," Engel said.

Yes, stamping the game as theirs before East Peoria knew it had started, four Potters had scored. Better, they made Kylie Moeller disappear. Out front, Hutchinson and Ellie VanMeenen either collapsed on her themselves or drove her into traps along the sidelines. At the quarter, Morton 19-7.

Morton is now 5-0 in Mid-Illini play. East Peoria, 4-11 overall, is 0-5 in the conference.

Engel led Morton’s scoring with 14. Abby VanMeenen had 13, Selke 10, Ellie VanMeenen 9, Payton Hays 6, Anja Ruxlow 4, Julia Laufenberg 3, Katie Brock 2, Abby Brooks 2, Hutchinson 1.