Morton’s Lady Potters 61, Dunlap 37
Fifteen seconds into it, before anyone had done anything much, the Morton coach, Bob Becker, saw the ball in Courtney Jones’s hands just outside the arc on the right side at the far end of the court. He shouted, “Stick it in the hoop, Courtney Jones!” Her 3-pointer missed, but no matter. Tonight the coach was feeling it. Next time down, Becker shouted at everyone who touched the ball against the Dunlap zone. “Move it! MOVE IT!” And, “The ball can’t STICK!”
The nice thing about being a coach in his 20th season is that his players may not hear him from that distance, but they for sure know what he’s saying because they’ve heard it a dozen, hundred, thousand times in practice. And they do – you bet they do – they MOVE IT! and it does not STICK!
Here’s another one, “REBOUND!” Y’know, in case they forget to rebound. My favorite of the CoachShouts is, “GO! GO! GO!” With that one Becker is reminding his girls that, once you have the rebound, the next move is not to stand there proud of what you’ve done. Nor does he expect you to embrace the ball, perhaps even give it a smooch, as if after years you’ve met a long-gone friend.
What Becker means by “GO! GO! GO!” is what Lindsey Dullard did when Dunlap, down only 13-8, missed its first shot of the second quarter. From somewhere near the free throw line, Dullard, a 6-foot-1 junior, came flying in for the REBOUND! With the ball clamped in both hands, she ripped it away from a couple Dunlap bystanders. Then, back on Earth, Dullard spun to her right and . . .
Let her tell it.
“I took off,” she said.
Meaning she WENT! WENT! WENT!
“I kept my head up,” she said, which is what the good players learn from the good coaches, keep your eyes up, looking ahead, seeing what’s happening downcourt, as Dullard did even while sprinting on the dribble from the Dunlap end until she’s near mid-court when . . .
“I saw Katie open,” Dullard said, speaking of her teammate Katie Krupa, maybe 30 feet ahead, and . . .
“I lobbed it to her,” Dullard said.
Fouled at the rim, Krupa made two free throws to start an 11-0 run in which Dullard was the major player without scoring a point. After a Maddy Becker 3, Krupa scored on a layup at the end of a fast break ignited by another Dullard REBOUND! followed by a crisp outlet pass that led to Tenley Dowell’s sneaky left-handed entry pass to Krupa.
That run capped off a 21-2 run in 5 minutes and gave Morton a 24-8 lead that early in the third quarter had grown to 45-18. Game over.
As to Dullard’s performance, listen to Becker again.
“Lindsey was in BEAST MODE for a huge part of the game,” the coach said. “She must have had a double-double tonight. She did everything — rebounding, court vision, defense – she was a special, special player tonight. BEAST MODE!”
At the point of Morton’s pressing defense, Dullard creates problems that most opponents cannot solve. They can’t be sure in throwing it over her, they can’t be sure in throwing it around her, and if they stand there with it, they can be sure she’ll take it out of their hands. There came a moment in the fourth quarter when a little Dunlap shooter went up for a 3-point try at the top of the key. Trouble was, the taller Dullard went up with her, after which this happened . . .
The Dunlap shooter didn’t shoot. She went up, saw the Dullard problem, decided she couldn’t solve it, and as she came down, she turned the would-be 3 into a sheepish pass.
Morton is now 17-2 for the season. It finished the first half of the Mid-Illini Conference schedule 7-0 and has now won 40 straight Mid-Illini games. Dunlap is 11-6 overall, 4-3 in the conference.
According to my scorekeeping, Dowell led Morton with 20 points. Dullard had 13 (including two 3’s). Krupa and Maddy Becker had 8 each. Jones had 7, Peyton Dearing 5, and Raquel Frakes 2. (Mathematicians will notice that these numbers add up to 63. I don’t know where I made the mistake. I gave someone 2 extra points. You’re welcome.)