Behind with two minutes to play, twice behind in the first overtime, and twice more behind in the second overtime, the Morton High School Lady Potters defeated U High, 42-39, in a semifinal of the State Farm Holiday Classic tonight and damned if I can tell you how they did it because what they did was somehow bring order out of chaos when chaos surrounded them, such as in this moment . . .

It’s 40-39, Morton.

Second overtime, the clock reads :11.9.

U High has another offensive rebound and is going up for an easy bucket to win the game, and a guy next to me in the bleachers goes, “Oh, God . . .”

Not exactly a prayer, but . . .

U High misses that point-blank, game-winning shot, and then . . .

In the chaos of battle for the rebound of the missed shot, the ball gets batted around, here, there, everywhere, off U High’s hands, off Morton’s fingertips, until it is rolling loose out by the free throw line where . . .

A U High player has the ball, only to lose it between her feet, and if there’s anything these Potters like, it’s a loose ball between a girl’s feet, especially with time disappearing, because a loose ball with a game to win is signal for them to throw themselves at it, to dive between the girl’s feet, to knock her down, pin her flat, everyone going elbow over tea kettle, Lindsey Dullard there, Tenley Dowell, Courtney Jones, Lord knows who else, and then . . .

A jump ball is called.

Possession to Morton at :04.7.

Two seconds later, fouled on the in-bounds pass, Dowell makes two free throws, giving the sophomore star 24 points for the night, 11 coming in the fourth quarter and two overtimes.

In-bounding at :02.6, U High manages only a 60-foot heave at the buzzer, a prayer unanswered.

And in the Morton locker room afterwards, coach Bob Becker tells his Potters what he thinks of them. He tells them what he thinks of girls who came from behind five times against a previously-undefeated team. Girls who have won their three Classic games by three points each night. Girls who threw themselves after that loose ball. But before I tell you what he thinks of those girls I should tell you those girls loved every word of it. The coach told them, “You are the toughest little shits in the entire state of Illinois.”

Hell, maybe in Indiana, too.

The victory, moving Morton into Friday night’s championship game against top-seeded Rock Island, was the Potters’ best this season. It came against a very good U High team that had won 13 times. Perennially strong inside, the Pioneers dominated the boards. They had 16 offensive rebounds; at least twice they up four shots in a single possession. Their defense was tenacious and for long periods of time Morton could not manage a decent shot. While some of that was attributable to good defense, clearly the Lady Potters are a lesser team at both ends without all-state senior, Brandi Bisping, out for a third straight game with mononucleosis.

Until the game’s final moments – in regulation and in both overtimes – there wasn’t much to recommend it. You could take your pick as to why the game was a snore so long. Perhaps the defenses were so sensational that neither team could score. Or perhaps the offenses were so poor that neither team could score. I come down on the latter. Without Bisping, Morton could get nothing done in the paint. Without anyone who could drop the ball in the ocean from a rowboat, U High could get nothing done from outside.

But all that desultory play was forgiven in the chaotic fun near the end of regulation and in the two overtimes. Here’s how Becker’s TLS’s came from behind six times in a game that his daughter, point guard Josi Becker, described as “nerve-wracking . . . a fun game . . . I love that kind of game”:

1. The Potters scored the last basket in regulation time at 1:47, a driving layup by the 5-foot-3 Becker through everyone bigger than her, for a 28-all tie.

2. Down 30-28 in the first overtime, the Potters went ahead on a 3-point shot by Dullard at 2:38.

3. Down 32-31 in that overtime, they tied it on Dowell’s free throw at :13.7.

4. Down 34-32 in the second OT, they tied it again on Becker’s driving shot. It’s not enough to call that thing a layup. It was more of an amazing, flying, running, curl-it-into-the-air hook shot lofted over those bigger people and high off the board. “I don’t know how that went in,” she said, smiling a winner’s smile. Could she even see the basket? “I was staring at the rim all the way.”

5. Down 39-38 in that second OT, Becker stole a U High pass and worked the ball to Dowell, whose slash to the basket gave the Potters the lead with :24.6 on the clock. (A digression here: However long Bisping’s absence becomes, the Potters already have shown they can play well. Dowell has assumed the role Bisping played when all-stater Chandler Ryan went down last season. In the 13 games following Ryan’s ACL injury, Bisping averaged 18 points a game. This time, with Bisping sitting out three games, Dowell has scored 17, 14, and tonight’s 24, an average of 18.3.)

6. Finally, let us give solace to the poor U High girl who lost the ball between her feet in the game’s final seconds and looked up to discover half the village of Morton arriving with malice aforethought.

Small wonder, then, that Bob Becker declared himself “giddy” after this one. His Potters had shown “the grit that we’re all about.” His girls were “fighters” whose “toughness separates them” from other teams. He said, “I’m blessed to coach this group.”