High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers win regional championship over Dunlap
Team improves to 33-0

 

[February 17, 2024] 

The Lady Railers picked up their first piece of 2024 postseason hardware on Thursday night as they won the Geneseo regional championship over the Dunlap Eagles 64-36.

The Eagles were still riding high after their 47-45 upset win on Monday night over Peoria High in the regional semifinal. Their adrenaline rush carried over to the first quarter of the game with Lincoln on Thursday night, as they were able to keep the game close for the first eight minutes. But after Jenna Bowman sank two 3s in a span of forty seconds in the second quarter, the Eagles were definitely grounded and Lincoln was just beginning to take off. The Lady Railers were able to take a 20-point lead by halftime and they pretty much put the game on autopilot for the second half.

Your captain of the flight, Kloe Froebe, led Lincoln with 33 points.

First Quarter

Dunlap got on the board first with a 2-0 lead and get this, the Eagles even went ahead 5-2 over Lincoln. With Froebe scoring the first seven points for the Lady Railers, Lincoln was able to take their first lead, 7-5, at the 4:43 mark. The Eagles tied the game 7-7 before Piper Whiteman came in the game and sank two quick baskets to put Lincoln up 12-7. Two more baskets by Froebe in the first quarter gave Lincoln sixteen points. And just before the quarter ended, Caroline Holmes hit a three and the Eagles were flying high when the buzzer sounded, trailing just 16-15 to the Lady Railers.

Second Quarter

Oh snap, Justice Krus is going to score quickly for the Eagles in the second quarter and just like that they are back on top of Lincoln. That lead lasted about twenty seconds and while the Eagles were soaring during that time, they had no idea what was about to hit them. It was going to feel like a Boeing 747.

Lincoln got hot and went on a 20-0 run. The game went from 16-17 to 36-17 in about six minutes. The two 3s by Bowman, one at the 5:06 mark and the other at the 4:26 mark, really hit the Eagles hard. Froebe tossing in seven points and Heitzig chipping in six points was also a devastating factor for Dunlap. Whiteman also hit a free throw during the run and the junior capped off the scoring in the quarter with a three before the half to set the score at 39-19. Was there ever a doubt?

Third Quarter

Time to set this jet on autopilot. Froebe is going to pour in 12 points to lead the team in the third quarter. Her two 3s in the quarter were just beautiful to watch sail through the air and the way this girl played Thursday night while still not feeling quite 100 percent is really admirable.

Makinley Knapp also picked up a nice bucket for Lincoln in the third quarter. Knapp popped out of the lane and took the pass from Froebe just off the top of the key. While stepping on the three-point line, Knapp swished her shot and this put Lincoln up 54-23. Oh how sweet it is to get a 30-point lead.

However, the Eagles scored two free throws late in the quarter to momentarily squash the running clock, with the score now 54-25 heading into the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter

With 7:34 left in the game, Froebe got an opportunity at the free throw line, and after sinking 1-of-2 shots, Lincoln was off and running that clock on Dunlap.

After Heitzig tossed in four more points, the Lincoln lead was 59-28 and Heitzig was in double-figures, too. Froebe made her final points of the game at the 4:38 mark.

Mia Clark made the last shot for Lincoln, a three off the inbounds play at the one minute mark. With the Eagles tossing in one last free throw, the final score was set, 64-36.

Your Lincoln Lady Railers are regional champions!

The Lady Railers will take a 33-0 record to the East Peoria Sectional next week. Lincoln will play Kankakee at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

Washington and Morton will play each other in the 7:30 p.m. game in East Peoria.

This was fun and unexpected. Geneseo had the nets cut down and gave them to Lincoln after the game.

Deb Rodgers (left) coached these Lady Railers at LJHS: Emma Hutchison, Makinley Knapp
and Taryn Stoltzenburg.
Photo by Danelle Clutter.

 

Scoring

Lincoln 64

Froebe 33
Heitzig 10
Whiteman 9
Bowman 6
Clark 3
Knapp 2
Stoltzenburg 1
 

Dunlap 36

Sollberger 9
Holmes 9
Krus 8
Morris 5
Taylor 3
Norris 2

[Teena Lowery]
 

Video - Jenna Bowman & Taryn Stoltzenburg on the Lady Railers regional win