High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers defeat MacArthur 72-22 on banner night

 

[November 30, 2023] 

The 2023 Class 3A Runner-Up banner the girls basketball team earned after their amazing 36-1 season last spring was unveiled at Roy S. Anderson on Tuesday night just before the girls took the court for warmups ahead of their first Central State Eight game with Decatur MacArthur.

The Lady Railers were also featured on a cool hype video on the big screen in the gym just ahead of the introduction of the starting lineup. Coach Taylor Rohrer remains consistent with five seniors in the starting lineup: Kloe Froebe, Becca Heitzig, Jenna Bowman, Taryn Stoltzenburg and Tori Geriets.

First Quarter

Becca Heitzig put the Lady Railers on the board first against Decatur MacArthur with a three that swished through the net at the 7:25 mark. MacArthur took a 4-3 lead over Lincoln but after Jenna Bowman sank a three at the 4:50 mark, the Lady Railers had a 6-4 lead and never looked back. After a steal by Taryn Stoltzenburg, she dished it off to Froebe for two and Lincoln was up 8-4. After the Lady Generals scored again to close the gap to 8-6, Coach Rohrer called a timeout. The game was very physical from the tip-off and a quick breather by the bench didn’t hurt either team.

As play resumed and the ball landed in the hands of Heitzig, she tossed up a ten-footer on the drive to the lane and she drew the foul as the shot dropped through the rim. Heitzig made the ‘and one’ and Lincoln was on top 11-6. About a minute later Stoltzenburg sank a three and the 14-6 lead forced MacArthur coach Jadawn Bryant to call a timeout. The first quarter scoring ended with Froebe sinking two free throws and the Lady Generals having two of their scorers in foul trouble. Lexi Meyer had three fouls in the first quarter and Amerie Stewart had two fouls. The Lady Railers weren’t quite in sync in the first quarter but nonetheless had a 16-6 lead.

Second Quarter

Thirty-seconds into the second quarter, Piper Whiteman was in the scoring column with a layup and the ‘and one.’ Nearing the 7:00 mark Froebe drained a three and Lincoln was building their lead, 22-6 the score. A basket by Tori Geriets set the score at 24-10. The last five minutes of the quarter would have the Lady Generals with more fouls than points. That wasn’t hard to do given that MacArthur did not score again in the quarter and they committed nine fouls in the quarter. Lincoln went 6-for-10 from the line in this stretch and with Froebe, Bowman and Heitzig scoring on two-point field goals, the Lincoln lead climbed to 38-10 at the half.

Third Quarter

The third quarter kind of had a feel like “let’s just get this over and go home.” Maybe that was because the ladies were fresh off those four games in two days at the Morton Tournament, where they really played all out and battled sickness, too. With Stoltzenburg, Geriets and Heitzig tossing in baskets, the Lady Railers went up 44-14 in just over two minutes of action. Then Froebe did what she does best: put points on the board in a hurry. In less than a minute she connected for two 3s and a steal that led to another basket. In the blink of an eye the score was 52-14 and the Lady Generals were ready to surrender. MacArthur lost all of their fight and with Heitzig, Whiteman and Froebe stealing the ball left and right, the points accumulated for Lincoln. As the third quarter came to a close, Lincoln was up 63-17 and the Lady Generals were obviously feeling defeated.

Fourth Quarter

It has to be really frustrating for opponents to face Lincoln on Neil Alexander Court and get annihilated even on a night when the Lady Railers did not play at the top of their game. Still Lincoln had a 46-point lead heading into the final quarter. Incredible. So with the starters sitting out the rest of the game, Lincoln relied on their strong bench to finish off the Lady Generals. Mia Clark collected the first pass off the inbounds and she quickly launched it through the net for a three as the clock barely ticked down to 7:56. This caused the Lady Generals to wave the flag. Luckily for them the running clock was on. Clark was showing no mercy. She showed off her baseline jumper and scored another two points. Finally Clark made a nice move in the paint and after the ball dropped through the net, Lincoln was up 70-17. Clark had scored the first seven points of the quarter and the Lady Generals coach was a bit baffled at how deep this Lincoln team truly is. With Ceana Adams scoring on the open layup at the 1:23 mark, this concluded the Lincoln scoring and the game would end with a final score of 72-22. A 50-point blowout in Lincoln’s return to the Central State Eight was not a bad start for conference play.

Kloe Froebe outscored the Lady Generals with 30 points. She led Lincoln with three 3s.

Becca Heitzig is really giving fans a preview of how much her game has already improved and she poured in 14 points. She has now hit double-figures in four of the first five games.

Lexi Meyer led Decatur MacArthur with 10 points.

In the JV game, Lincoln just ran all over Decatur MacArthur, winning 77-14.

Lincoln had a 35-3 lead in the first quarter as Mia Clark poured in 15 points. Piper Whiteman added eight points in the quarter.

By halftime Lincoln was up 51-10 as Makinley Knapp tossed in eight points to lead the Lady Railers in scoring here.

In the third quarter, five different Lady Railers scored. Ceana Adams dropped in seven points to lead the way as the score escalated to 71-10.

With three girls reaching double figures, the Lady Railers send the Lady Generals home with a 77-14 loss.

Mia Clark led Lincoln with 17 points.

Ceana Adams and Makinley Knapp each scored 14 points.

Coach Cory Farmer has these girls firing on all cylinders and they show no signs of putting the brakes on when it comes to scoring.

Knapp and Whiteman are the only two juniors who dress JV and the rest are all underclassmen.

The Shot (that no one got on video)

The shot of the night, however, goes to Lady Railers manager Ryan Fruge, who swished the ball from about 3/4 length of the court after the game was over. Fruge made his shot with Kloe Froebe and Aidan Gowin watching nearby on the court and maybe about ten other people in the gym, including radio announcers Jay Hardin and Kari Froebe. No one captured the moment on video, but Fruge, with a smile a mile wide, will forever have the moment to cherish.

Lincoln improved to 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Central State Eight Conference.

The Lincoln JV team is 4-0 on the season.

The ladies will host Bloomington on Thursday night.

The JV game will tip-off at 5:30 p.m.

The Varsity game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.

Another big crowd would be amazing!

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 72

Froebe 30
Heitzig 14
Clark 7
Stoltzenburg 5
Bowman 5
Whiteman 5
Geriets 4
Adams 2

Decatur MacArthur 22

Meyer 10
Stewart 5
Carson 3
K. Jackson 2
C. Jackson 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 77

Clark 17
Knapp 14
Adams 14
Whiteman 8
McCloud 8
Holmes 6
Perkins 6
Gilbert 2
Hutchison 2

Decatur MacArthur 14

K. Smith 4
D. Smith 4
Wilson 3
Sallis 3


[Teena Lowery]