Richwoods prevails over Morton in Morton Thanksgiving Tournament: 10 key takeaways

Richwoods clinched back-to-back Morton Thanksgiving Tournament championships on Saturday night, extending its winning streak to three games over Morton. The Knights (6-0) let a late lead escape in regulation but regrouped for a 64-61 double-overtime win over Morton. An early-season meeting between the two programs provides an early opportunity for a state-quality game. The two programs have combined to win the last four Class 3A state championships. The Knights ended Morton's run of three-straight championships (2015-17) with a 49-29 win in the sectional championship in February. The Potters only two losses last season were to Richwoods, including 53-45 at the Thanksgiving tournament. Two of the top teams in the state, regardless of class, are sure to meet up again in the postseason and, possibly before that at the State Farm Classic. However, here are 10 takeaways from Saturday's double-overtime duel. 1. Richwoods will frustrate teams with its athleticism on defense. Legendary girls basketball coach John Gross brought his 2-3 matchup defense to Richwoods in the early 2000s and then-assistant Todd Hursey adopted it to be his own. The Knights have the athletes to capitalize with great length and speed. The Knights forced six turnovers in the second half, nine for the game, and held Morton to 22-of-69 (31.9 percent) shooting from the field and 7-of-35 (20 percent) from 3-point range. Potters playmaker and Butler recruit Tenley Dowell (2019) started 4-for-10 in the first quarter but went 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) for the rest of the game. 2. Morton unveiled a pressure defense to get stops and force overtime. Morton (4-1) has length of its own and used that late in the fourth quarter and overtime. Lewistown transfer Raquel Frakes (2021) is the point person on a 1-2-1-1 fullcourt press with Dowell and Alabama-Birmingham recruit Lindsey Dullard (2020) falling into a 1-3-1 halfcourt zone featuring Katie Krupa (2022) in the middle. Frakes won the seventh grade IESA 100 hurdles with a time of 16.47. 3. Knights prove they can defend without fouling when needed. Two Richwoods stars found themselves in foul trouble early on but found a way to stay on the court. Tianna Johnson (2019) picked up two fouls in the first quarter before playing the entire second quarter without fouling. She managed to play with four fouls through most of the fourth quarter and the two overtime periods. Marquette recruit Camryn Taylor (2019) sat the rest of the second quarter after picking up her second personal foul on a charge with 5:32 left. She responded brilliantly without fouling for the rest of the game, including blocking Dowell's shot at the end of regulation before becoming the go-to-player in overtime. 4. Morton has a blueprint for beating the "matchup." The silver lining of this early-season loss is that Morton found a way to beat the 2-3 matchup zone. Courtney Jones (2020) played a pivotal role while patrolling the soft spot of the zone at the free throw line. She only had two assists but often found open shooters and seemingly made the correct pass every time. It's only a matter of time before Morton's 3-point shooting catches up with them. Dullard was 1-for-9 from range, Dowell was 2-for-11 and Illinois State soccer recruit Peyton Dearing (2020) was 0-for-3. Most of those shots were open. The lone bright spot from behind the arc was Maddy Becker (2020), who was 4-for-10 in a Max Hooper-esque role of only shooting 3-pointers. 5. Jaida McCloud is a walking mismatch. Richwoods junior Jaida McCloud (2020) is a matchup nightmare for opposing coaches. She has the ability to play all five positions and can impact the game at any of them, as evident by scoring 15 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing 5 assists. The 6-foot-1 McCloud, the daughter of University of Illinois great Jonelle Polk McCloud, showcased her post presence when Taylor sat out with foul trouble. She grabbed several defensive rebounds and showed great court vision with fullcourt passes or driving coast-to-coast. On the perimeter she has the ability to shoot from range, drive to the basket off the dribble and make a cut without the ball to free herself up. 6. Morton's stars found a way to impact the game despite poor shooting outputs. Dowell and Dullard shot a combined 15-for-44 (34.1 percent), scoring 36 of Morton's 61 points, but it was their length and court vision that allowed them to set teammates up. Dowell added six assists and five rebounds to her game-high 21-point total. The duo connected several times on backdoor cuts by Dullard with Dowell finding her behind the zone. Dullard grabbed 11 rebounds and dropped five dimes. 7. Camryn Taylor needs to find ways to become available offensively. Richwoods finds offensive success working through Taylor, even if she isn't scoring. That didn't happen enough throughout the game because when she did get featured in overtime, she took over. She finished with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but five of those shots came in the second overtime. One thing that was evident last season was her ability to operate around the elbows and on the perimeter, whether it was her passing or working off the dribble. That's one way to navigate around the 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones that Richwoods faced Saturday. Even moving without the ball on pick-and-rolls or popping would help create space. 8. Nia Williams showcased major improvements and is an emerging prospect. Nia Williams (2020) was brilliant through regulation before fouling out in the final minute of the first overtime period. Her length and quickness at the top of the matchup zone naturally creates deflections and steals. She had three steals and four rebounds (three offensive). Most importantly, her offensive game has developed as she was 7-for-10 in regulation before missing her final three shots, tallying a team-high 19 points. She was 2-for-5 on 3-point attempts and worked well off the dribble, showing no fear against taller defenders. 9. Securing rebounds needs to become a priority. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the amount of offensive rebounds allowed. The game didn't have a defensive rebound until Becker, the shortest player on the court, secured one 5 minutes, 10 seconds into the game. In total, 32 of the game's 79 rebounds came off the offensive glass. Taylor and Jones each led in that category with five each. Morton held a three-rebound advantage overall through regulation but Richwoods pulled ahead in overtime to win the glass 41-38. 10. Benches shorten in big games. Both coaches went three-deep into their bench to play a total of eight girls, and that's with one player on each side fouling out. Morton coach Bob Becker brought Megan Gold (2019, Lakeland University recruit) off the bench early, then the speedy Dearing but didn't use Frakes until the fourth quarter as part of the special defensive package. Richwoods coach Todd Hursey used Kileli Markovich (2019, Lincoln Land C.C. recruit) first, then Mariah Hopson (2020) and Trinity Sims (2019). Lines of the night Richwoods Camryn Taylor (sr., 6-foot-2, F) - 18 points (6-13/0-0/6-8), 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal Jaida McCloud (jr., 6-foot-1, G/F) - 15 points (7-15/0-1/1-2), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block Nia Williams (jr., 5-foot-10, G) - 19 points (7-13/3-5/3-6), 4 rebounds, 3 steals Tianna Johnson (sr., 5-foot-11, G) - 10 points (4-7/0-3/2-5), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block Morton Tenley Dowell (sr., 6-foot-1, G) - 21 points (9-28/2-11/1-4), 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block Lindsey Dullard (jr., 6-foot-1, G) - 15 points (6-16/1-9/2-3) 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block Courtney Jones (jr., 5-foot-10, G) - 5 points (2-6/0-1/1-1), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal Maddy Becker (jr., 5-foot-4, G) - 12 points (4-10/4-10/0-0), 3 rebounds, 1 steal