Morton - Lanphier | 3A State Semifinal Preview
 |
| Morton poses with the Super-Sectional plaque following their 45-12 victory over Providence Catholic on Monday night in Kankakee. Friday marks the 5th time in 6 years the Lady Potters have made it to Redbird Arena. PHOTO / ALEX STAAB |
The Morton Lady Potters have run the table in this 2019-2020 season, entering today's State Semifinal with an unblemished (36-0) record. Their opponent, Springfield Lanphier (26-8), has never been to this stage before.
Lanphier Head Coach Doug Collins, like Morton's Bob Becker, is in his 21st season. Collins sits at a (222-367) record entering the game.
The Lions have won their last six consecutive games, with the last loss coming at the hands of Rochester, 46-45, back on February 10th. Looking on that side of the record as well, a 36-34 loss to 2A champ Pleasant Plains sticks out.
Lanphier was in the Peoria Manual tournament around the Christmas holiday, falling in the tournament's championship to Peoria High, 65-49. That tournament also featured Lion wins over East Peoria (59-35), Dunlap (66-44), and Moline (74-69).
You don't have to look to far into the season stats to see who's led the way for Coach Collins and company. Martrice Brooks, the 5'7" senior guard, has the team high in points by 180, totaling 551 points on the season, good for 16.2 points per game. Brooks is also second on the team in threes with 44.
The Lions also have a bit of height, but not much. Cheyenne Trotter (6'0" So.), Serenity Price (6'0" Jr.), and Jayda Evans (6'0" Jr.) are the three Lanphier players that are 6'0"+.
Morton, quite simply put, is having one of the greatest seasons in IHSA Girls Basketball history. No team has won more than 38 games, with the 2004-2005 Richwoods team (38-0) having the active record. A win today for the Lady Potters would put them in sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time single season wins list.
The Lady Potters sure are battle tested on their short drive to Redbird Arena (just under 30 miles). After two fairly easy wins in the Washington Regional, the tone quickly changed, as Morton was just one fourth of a Rock Island Sectional field that featured all state-ranked teams: #1 Morton, #4 Peoria, #5 Richwoods, and #7 Kankakee.
The Morton-Richwoods rivarly would write another chapter in the semifinal, and Morton would come away with a win in the teens, 54-38 to be exact. Then, what was sure to be a good one. #1 vs. #4. Morton vs. Peoria. Both prorgams' fans essentially ignored the lengthy drive to the Quad Cities and came out ready to cheer on their respective sides. Yet in the end, Morton would end up winning by 20, 63-43.
Now, Super-Sectional opponents can sometimes be tough to judge. Morton's was Providence Catholic out of New Lenox. Morton seemed to have an edge on paper, but you never know at this time of year. Okay, actually, for this one, you can know. Morton's intense defensive pressure caused havoc for the Celtic defenders.
The Lady Potters have only allowed fewer than 20 points in a game four times (Bloomington, East Peoria, Dunlap, East Peoria). You would think that wouldn't happen this late in the postseason of all times, but ah, it did. Morton would dominate the Celtics in front of a raucous crowd, 45-12.
Morton has an easy edge over the Lions in scoring, paced by Lindsey Dullard's 14.9 points per game. Dullard, recently named AP 1st Team All-State, has also made 48 treys.
An X-Factor to this point of the season in numerous games has been senior guard Peyton Dearing. Dearing, particularly at the regular season game at Peoria High, has that clutch gene, that game-closing genetic of sorts. Dearing's 53 3's (42%) are a team high.
With Morton's slight height advantage, it will be interesting to see how the rebounds come into play. Dullard (163), Courtney Jones (146), and Katie Krupa (138) all are over 100 board on the season.
The scoring attack, the rebounding, and we haven't yet mentioned the ball distribution. That effort's been lead by their point guard, Courtney Jones. Jones has been a truly reliable floor general for the Lady Potters, dishing out a single-season record (for the Morton program) 192 assists and counting. On top of the assists, Jones has emerged as one of the team's top scorers, averaging 9.4 per game as of Friday.
The hall-of-famer Bob Becker will go for win #516 on Friday afternoon. Just for some perspective, the last time this program had fewer than 30 wins in a season under Becker's leadership was 2013-2014. The Lady Potters have totaled 33, 33, 34, 31, 33, and 36 wins since then. It's just part of what Becker preaches as "consistent excellence".
Morton will take on the Lanphier Lions at 1pm in Normal. We'll see if the Lady Potters can make history as the 17th IHSA Girls Basketball program to have a perfect season, but it must be taken game-by-game, and that starts today with Lanphier.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
TV | CLICK HERE
Web | CLICK HERE
Audio | CLICK HERE
In-Game Social Media Updates | CLICK HERE
Comments
Post a Comment