Lady Railers excited to get 2016-17 basketball season started

[November 28, 2016]  Attention Railer Nation: The Lady Railers are back on the hardwood! The varsity team, which finished 22-13 last season and just fell short of the state tournament, will open the 2016-17 season at the Limestone Tournament with games this Friday at 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday with Lincoln playing at 9 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Head Coach Taylor Richmond, who is beginning her fifth season at the helm, is obviously enthusiastic about the season. “I am looking forward to it,” she said. “We’ve been working hard. It should be exciting.”

The 2016-17 Lady Railers listen to coaches Taylor Richmond and Todd Koehler run through practice drills on Tuesday afternoon.  

There was so much excitement surrounding these girls last season as they made a strong postseason run that included knocking off powerhouses Rochester and St. Thomas More, before falling to Highland 48-40 in the UIS Super-Sectional. That feeling is without a doubt going to carry over to this season as the Lady Railers already appear to have the chemistry for success figured out.

First, they have a coach who loves the game, grew up playing the game and has been a key component in turning the program around. Although she would be the first to give all the credit to her players. Lincoln hit the jackpot with Coach Richmond. Reflecting back on the success of last season, she said, “I think that overall we all felt like we were on cloud nine. To make it to the super-sectional, it was such a privilege. We worked very hard and we earned that.”

That loss to Highland was a tough one, but just getting that far sure made Railer Nation beam with pride. Coach Richmond was proud of the girls, too. “I was very proud of them and after the loss I told them how very proud of them I was. They really started to change this program around the year before and last year was just the icing on the cake, you know. Our goal was to win a regional and we won a sectional,” she said, with a smile breaking out. “So I think that all of us together, we were very sad that we lost and we didn’t make it to state, but it still felt like a victory because we made it so far and we accomplished so much last season and I couldn’t have been more proud of those girls.”

Coach Richmond obviously has a respect for her team as well. “It’s just such a special group of young women and it was a lot of fun. No regrets. We had a great time and it just didn’t go our way that night and sometimes that happens.”

Second, the girls have no problem putting in the work. According to Coach Richmond, this past summer the girls had a camp, played in a summer league, traveled both north and south for tournaments, and even went to Notre Dame to play ball. “We traveled a little bit,” she said. “It was a lot of fun. We got a lot of basketball in and we saw a lot of really good teams. So we had a lot of fun this summer and now we are kind of getting back in the groove of things.”

That hard work has carried over into the fall practice, which just began three weeks ago and it appears the Lady Railers are not missing a beat. Coach Richmond keeps the girls on track and focused on the here and now.

“We’re focusing on now,” the coach said simply.

“We are focusing on Friday’s game. We know we play the 25th and we have two games that day. We’re focusing on getting the job done up there (Limestone), playing hard and executing what we do.”
Coach Richmond’s goal is really pretty simple. “My main goal for my girls, and they know this, is that they improve every time they step on the floor, to accomplish all the small things and hopefully we’ll continue to build throughout this season and we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”

Third, you gotta have the right players who want to play. In this case, Coach Richmond has a gym full. In fact, the coach admitted, “There’s a lot of talent on this team.” As far as who’s going to complete the starting lineup, the coach said that is yet to be determined. Nonetheless, she has a lot of girls to fit into roles and that’s a great position to be in. “I think it’s just gonna be by day, and who we’re playing, and what’s working for us on that day,” said Coach Richmond.

Looking at the current Lady Railers roster, it’s evident the team only lost one player from last year’s squad, Hannah Cameron, but gained eleven new freshmen. Two of those freshmen, Madelyn Koehler (daughter of Assistant Coach Todd Koehler) and Leah Schneider, have made the Varsity roster. Both girls hail from West Lincoln-Broadwell and with Schneider measuring 6’1, she could be a force to be reckoned with in the future. For now, she’s getting experience on the freshmen team as well as the Junior Varsity team and only time will tell how she fits into the Varsity lineup.

Coach Richmond said of Schneider, “You know, she’s playing very well. She made the Varsity team which is a positive. She played great in our JV tournament. Our JV team won the championship in the tournament last weekend. We’ll see how the season goes.”

A couple sophomores also made the Varsity team, newcomer Mackenzie Antoine and Emma Konczyk. Both have already gotten off to great starts on the JV team.

By now pretty much everybody knows about the stellar junior class of ballplayers. These girls have been ballers basically ever since they learned to tie their shoelaces. Kaelyn Froebe actually led the team in scoring last season while averaging 15.7 points per game. Grace Bossingham was also a huge contributor last year hitting the boards and scoring 6.1 points per game. Toss in the Lolling twins, Morgan and Kennedy, who are not only fierce on defense, but who also combined last season to average just over 14 points per game, and the recipe for success is getting sweeter. Other juniors added to the equation are Erin Gowin, Haley Hicks, Julianne Funk, Ruth Lessen and Emerie Wieber.

Senior leadership is also important and the Lady Railers have two seniors on this year’s team filling that role, Hailie Williams and Lauren Block. Williams is the reigning Illinois Queen of the Hill from last season’s state tournament in Normal, while Block is a three-sport athlete who will actually be attending Parkland College on a softball scholarship next fall.

Block is obviously looking forward to this season and knows other teams will be keeping an eye on them.

Seniors Hailie Williams and Lauren Block are excited to kick off the 2016-17 Lady Railer basketball season.

“I’m excited. I think we have high expectations for this year, which puts a lot more pressure on us,” she said. “Last year we were the underdogs. We didn’t have anything to lose going into the season and I think this year we have a lot more eyes on us and a bigger target on our backs for sure. Everybody’s gunning for us this year. So we have high expectations but we are going to have to fight and claw our way back.”

Williams also has a feeling of excitement and anticipation for her senior year. “I think we are still just hyped up from last season. Our first game is Friday and we are just excited for it. These last three weeks we’ve just been practicing hard and running hard,” she said. “I am just excited. This is my senior year,” she said, adding, “Next year they are going to Apollo so I feel like everyone just wants to play as hard as they can to prove they belong in the CS8.”

The Lady Railers can’t help but smile looking ahead to this season.  The 2016-17 season kicks off for these young ladies tomorrow at the Limestone Thanksgiving Tournament.

Coach Richmond’s offered these thoughts on conference play. “I think that many of the teams in the CS8 are going to be very competitive with us. I think that we are going to have some good ballgames. I’m not thinking that we are going to go out and smash people. I think people are going to show up, they’re going to want to play us and they’re gonna show up to play us. So we have to show up prepared to play every game. It should be exciting.”

A fourth element keeps popping up, and so it has to factor in the equation. It’s pretty simple, too. FUN. Coach Richmond, who is a very upbeat person herself, said, “These kids love to play the game. We try to do things in practice that they enjoy. Our defensive drills, they love, so we try to do those everyday. It keeps them upbeat. They want to do that stuff. For the most part, I don’t have to beg them to play. They want to be here, they want to play, and it’s very refreshing. Really it makes my job as a coach a lot easier because when you have a group of kids that love the game as much as I do, it just makes it more fun.”

“They want to learn more, they want to do more,” she continued. “I feel like we can have conversations about the game and we do that, you know. It’s really nice because they are very knowledgable about the game, they understand the game and they’re a lot of fun,” she said, smiling.

Block also mentioned the fun factor. “We always have fun in here. We joke around. We get our work done but we have fun, too, and I think that’s why we play so well together. A lot of these girls are best friends off and on the court.”

Finally, the fifth component that adds to the success of any and all Lincoln sports is Railer Nation. The student body of Lincoln Community High School gets behind their teams with every ounce of enthusiasm running through their red and green veins.

Block agreed the student section can be nuts and she wouldn’t want it any other way. “Yes, we want to get back our big student section and our big crowd. It took us a little while to draw in a crowd, you know at the beginning of the season (last year) it was kind of small, but by the end of the season we filled the stands. That was really fun. The fans coming in and supporting us just fueled our fire and we played so much better when we had people watching us and cheering us on.”

Williams is also pumped for Railer Nation to come out in full force again. “We have our student section, of course, and I’ve talked to some of the basketball players and they said they are going to come to all the games that they can. I think a lot of people want to come and watch us play now.”

Coach Richmond also appreciates the support of Railer Nation. “Oh this community is incredible and their love for this school and our basketball programs, us and the boys, is outstanding,” she emphasized. “I could not be more thankful for the support that they’ve shown us. Not just at our games last year, but whenever we’ve done fundraising, they’ve been so willing to support us. We are all very thankful for that support. It’s a lot of fun when people come out to the games. The kids love it and last year Railer Nation, this town, this community supported us no matter what. I felt very blessed.”

On this Thanksgiving Day, let’s count those blessings again and be thankful for a dedicated coach who makes it fun for players who enjoy putting in the work, who in turn are all thankful for a legion of fans proudly known as Railer Nation.

Good luck, Lady Railers, in the Limestone Thanksgiving Tournament this weekend!

Limestone Girls Basketball Thanksgiving Tournament 2016 schedule

Friday, November 25th

9:00 IVC vs. Notre Dame
10:45 Limestone vs. Manual
12:30 Notre Dame vs. Lincoln
2:15 IVC vs. Manual
4:00 Limestone vs. Lincoln

Saturday, November 26th

9:00 Lincoln vs. Manual
10:45 Limestone vs. IVC
12:30 Manual vs. Notre Dame
2:15 IVC vs. Lincoln
4:00 Limestone vs. Notre Dame

[Teena Lowery]