Notes, observations and other thoughts about basketball played at 38th and Central...

Women's Basketball – 90-20 win vs. Carl Sandburg
Takeaways from Wednesday
Morton College extended its home-court win streak to 41 in the Panthers' 2022-23 finale at the Henry J. Vais Gymnasium with a 90-20 Region IV quarterfinal win Wedndesday. The rest of Morton College's road ahead comes away from Cicero with the Region IV playoffs at Rock Valley College in Rockford.

29 for 29
Mia Simpson scored a career-high 29 points, going 14 of 18 from the floor, as the Panthers improved to 29-0, a win shy of equaling of last year's 30-3 team's victory total. Her previous career high was 28 against Elgin January 31st.

30 for 30
When Morton College faces Moraine Valley in the Region IV semifinals Saturday, the Panthers look to put together back-to-back 30-win seasons for the just the second time in school history. The only Panther team with two straight 30-win seasons is softball, which did it in 1994 and 1995.

Defense, defense
The Panthers held Carl Sandburg to a season-low 20 points with the Chargers scoring 11 in the final quarter after getting just nine points in the first 30 minutes. Morton College's previous low this season was 21, something the Panthers had done three other times. The fewest points the Panthers have allowed in the last three seasons is 16 vs. Lake County on January 20, 2022.

The Panthers also forced 42 turnovers and came up with a season-high 29 steals, besting the 28 they had against Kankakee December 14th. Morton College also hoisted more three-pointers (43) than Sandburg had total shots (36).

Milestones
500 – Simpson became the third Panther player to score 500 or more points this season. She joins Claire Hyde and Kaylen Evans in getting halfway to a 1,000. Simpson also is a point away from 900 career points.
300 – Gianine Boado passed the 300-career point mark. Her 11 points pushed her two-year total at Morton to 305.
25 – Number of career double-doubles for Simpson, who marked her 21st double-double this season with 29 points and 12 rebounds against Sandburg. The Skyway MVP also had eight steals and five assists.

First to 400
Morton College is on track to reaching the 400-mark in three-pointers in a season. The Panthers, two away from 400, already have made more threes than a year ago (398-394).

Balancing act
Morton College placed three in doubles for the fifth time this season with Simpson (29), Jalyssa Carrasco (16 points, 5 assists, 5 steals) and Boado (11). The rest of the scoring was spread out with 10 different Panthers entering the scorebook.

Also contributing were:
Hyde (8 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds)
Franchesca Metz (7 points, 3 steals)
Evans (5 points)
Taylor Marquart (5 points, 5 rebounds)
Jovanna Martinucci (4 points, 4 assists, 6 steals)
Josylin Simmons-Doxie (2 points, 4 assists)
Amari Cole (2 points, 5 rebounds)

National numbers - team
No. 1 – 3-pointers (398) and points allowed (42.9)
No. 3 – Assists (22.8)
No. 4 – Points scored (90.7)
No. 7 – Steals (16.4)

National leaderboard – individual
No. 1 – Simpson field-goal percentage (75.3) and Hyde 3-pointers (123)
No. 4 – Martinucci assists/turnovers ratio (4.8) and Carrasco 3-pointers (94)
No. 5 – Evans 3-pointers (93)
No. 8 – Hyde points scored (520) and Simpson total rebounds (321)
No. 10 – Evans total points (517)
No. 15 – Simpson total points (502)

Next up
Top-seeded Morton College runs into a familiar face at Saturday's Region IV Midwest District B semifinals at Rock Valley College in Rockford.

The Panthers take on Skyway rival Moraine Valley for a third time this season at 4 p.m. Morton College won both meetings, 91-49 and 100-57. Moraine, the fifth-seed, eliminated Milwaukee Area Tech 57-45 to advance.

No. 2 Rock Valley plays No. 3 Kankakee in the other semifinal at 6 p.m. Saturday. The winners meet in the Region IV title game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 11th.

All-day tickets are $5 per person. Rock Valley also will be live streaming entire tournament at  https://justagamelive.com/clients/rock-valley-college. Cost to access the stream is $10 for 24-hour pass.