High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers tear through Tornadoes 72-32
Team improves to 26-0

 

[January 26, 2024] 

There are a lot of highlights to discuss from the Lady Railers 72-32 victory over the Taylorville Tornadoes on Thursday night. For starters, four Lady Railers reached double figures: Kloe Froebe (23), Becca Heitzig (12), Jenna Bowman (12) and Piper Whiteman (10). As a team, the girls made 14 threes, tying the record. Froebe had a double-double, recording 12 assists. The game was another running clock.

And with the Lady Railers win and a loss by Chatham Glenwood, Lincoln is the Central State Eight Conference champions of the 2023-24 season. The last time Lincoln won the CS8 was in 1999.

Not a bad night at all in Taylorville.

First Quarter

Lincoln led Taylorville 18-7 at the end of the first quarter, with Kloe Froebe scoring nine points to push the Lady Railers out to the respectable lead. Froebe’s three with barely a second left in the quarter was the icing on the cake and the leading candidate for Ms. Basketball of Illinois even took a second to watch the ball drop through the net before trotting off to the bench with her teammates. Taryn Stoltzenburg also had a three in the opening quarter and Becca Heitzig tossed in four points courtesy of her signature jump shot.

Second Quarter

The Lady Railers played like their pants were on fire in the second quarter, running up and down the court, draining threes like they were Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty. It was so much fun to watch!

First it was Piper Whiteman, barely twenty seconds into the quarter, draining a corner three. Thirty-two seconds later it was Jenna Bowman hitting a three. Thirty-four seconds later Froebe was like, “I got more in me,” and she nailed a three, her third of the game.

This catapulted the lead to 27-7 with 6:34 on the clock. After Heitzig’s back-to-back buckets put Lincoln up 31-7 even Taylorville took note and Aubrey Kietzman drained a three in the next possession.

This put Taylorville in double-digits, yet trailing 31-10. After Whiteman’s two field goals, the score was 35-13 and the fans and the media in attendance were impressed to say the least.

Froebe and Whiteman would give them more reason to applaud with, you guessed it, more threes. Froebe’s coming at the 3:42 mark and Whiteman’s at the 3:22 mark. These ladies didn't waste time on the court and the score was quickly 41-13.

The Taylorville crowd got really excited when their team came back to score consecutive baskets. But soon Heitzig and Tori Geriets retaliated and the score was a solid 45-19. With 46.0 seconds left, Mia Clark took the pass in the corner on the inbounds play and without hesitation she tossed it up for a three. At any given moment you could almost hear Oprah Winfrey’s voice saying, “You get a three, you get a three, you get a three and you get a three!”

But wait, there will be one more. Are you kidding me, Froebe? With a steal in the backcourt by Froebe, she races to the other end and after a few passes around the horn, Grace Schneider spots Froebe nearby, open on the wing, and dishes it off to the senior captain for a THREE! As the ball swishes through the net, the buzzer sounds and the girls exit the court to the locker room. Just another buzzer-beating day in the life of Kloe Froebe. Even mom, Kari, was excited at the broadcast table.

“And that’s the way we like,” says Kari Froebe on the WLCN broadcast.

Lincoln holds a commanding 51-19 lead at the half over the Taylorville Tornadoes.

For the record keepers at home, that was six threes in the second quarter for the Lady Railers. The hot hands were: Froebe (3), Whiteman (2), Bowman (1) and Clark (1).

Third Quarter

Oh what fun it is to play in Taylorville. A great atmosphere here as the fans sit up high, looking down on the players on the court. It’s an older gym with a ton of basketball history and for Lincoln fans, the gym holds a lot of memories.

This was just another one of those memory-making nights. After baskets by Stoltzenburg, Heitzig and Froebe helped drive the score to 56-24, Bowman bumped the lead to 62-24 with two more threes.

Not about to be left out of the fun in the third quarter was Stoltzenburg. This time it was her three that made the score 65-26. Somebody better put the Taylorville Fire Department on standby, these Lady Railers are on fire. Froebe ended the third quarter scoring with a simple two but the Tornadoes were definitely having a hard time stopping the Lady Railers offense, even with a 6’4 girl on the court. Lincoln’s lead at the end of the third quarter was 67-29.

Fourth Quarter

This one is going to go by in a blink of an eye with the running clock. Bowman sank the final three of the ballgame at the 6:22 mark and with Froebe sinking one more basket before her exit, the final score was all but written in stone. The clock would run down with the second string in and a final score of 72-32.

Lincoln stays perfect with a 26-0 record.

The Lincoln JV team won 56-15 over Taylorville.

Piper Whiteman led the JV with 13 points. Mia Clark tossed in 12 points. Mesa McCloud added 11 points.

The JV team improved their record to 19-0.

Both teams will play this Saturday at Champaign Central.

The JV team will tip-off at 1:00 p.m.

The Varsity will tip-off at 2:30 p.m.

One final note:

While Lincoln fans are truly supportive of this team, it was a pleasant surprise to meet some basketball fans at Bill’s Toasty in Taylorville prior to the contest. Bill’s Toasty is a classic 24-hour burger joint off the square that locals say has only closed once since World War II, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Four guys from Hillsboro were dining in when some Lincoln people also stopped in the famous eatery that was established in 1932. When asked what brought them to Bill’s Toasty, one of the guys who knew Dennis Werth said, “We came to see Lincoln and the Froebe girl play.” After spotting the gentlemen at halftime, it was evident they were impressed with the Lady Railers.

Bill’s Toasty is also an impressive dining experience featuring fantastic grilled food, a classic atmosphere and hand-dipped milkshakes served in a stainless steel tumbler. Breakfast is also served at the diner.

There was also a celebrity sighting after the game at Bill’s Toasty as WLCN’s Konnor Shaw and Jay Hardin stopped by for a burger and milkshake.

Mark your calendar now as 2032 will be the 100th anniversary of the famous 217 diner.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 72

Froebe 23
Heitzig 12
Bowman 12
Whiteman 10
Stoltzenburg 8
Geriets 4
Clark 3

Taylorville 32

Kietzman 13
Fleming 13
Heimsness 3
Woodward 2
DeMichael 1

JV scoring

Lincoln 56

Whiteman 13
Clark 12
McCloud 11
Adams 9
Holmes 6
Knapp 4
Schneider 1

Taylorville 15

Siempelkamp 9
Wernz 4
DeMichael 2

[Teena Lowery]