High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers crush Champaign Central 72-21
Team improves to 27-0

 

[January 28, 2024] 

Playing the Lincoln Lady Railers must be the most brutal thirty-two minutes of basketball for the opponent. In the case of Champaign Central they suffered their second thumping of the season courtesy of the Lady Railers on Saturday afternoon in Champaign.

This time Lincoln crushed the Maroons 72-21.

Back on November 24, 2023 the Lady Railers demolished the Maroons 88-19 in the Morton Thanksgiving Tournament in just the second game of the season.

The good news for the Maroons: they will not have to face Kloe Froebe and her crew again since the two teams go separate ways for the postseason.

The good news for the Lady Railers: they improved to 27-0 and that’s a nice record going into Senior Night this Tuesday night at Roy S. Anderson in Lincoln.

It was a cold, damp and dreary January afternoon outside but inside the Lady Railers found plenty of ways to heat up the offense. Froebe, in fact, outscored the Maroons easily with 38 points, just as she did back on their first meeting this season when she outscored the Maroons 21-19.

Froebe also recorded a double-double on Saturday, pulling down 11 rebounds. The Colorado State Rams are getting an exceptional ballplayer/outstanding person in Froebe. Period.

First Quarter

The Lady Railers were up 15-0 in less than four minutes to start the game. And they missed several shot attempts from the field at that. The early 5-0 lead came at the free throw line. Becca Heitzig’s jumper put the score at 7-0. After Froebe missed from the field, she darted in the lane for the rebound and put it back up for two points, 9-0 the score. Another bucket by Froebe and one by Taryn Stoltzenburg set the score at 13-0. After a great bounce pass from Stoltzenburg to Froebe, the 15-0 score was reached. At the 4:10 mark the Maroons sank a three to finally break into the scoring column. Froebe scored the last six points of the quarter to set the scoring at 21-3. Her final basket of the quarter came after she chased down a loose ball near half-court and took off and ran with it. She successfully made the left-handed layup, giving Lincoln the big lead that saw the Maroons energy just fade away. Froebe is like an ant at a picnic going after crumbs when she sees a loose ball.

A big treat, by the way, was having Lady Railer legend Jan Bowers on the broadcast with the one and only Mr. Stat Man, Jay Hardin. The two were very entertaining and informative, with Bowers quick to point out how unselfish the Lady Railers game is.

“They will hit anybody who is open,” said Bowers during the telecast. Bowers also noted, “The Lady Railers have great fundamentals, offense and defense.” The former Lady Railer coach nailed it. And this was just her commentary in the first quarter.

Second Quarter

Alex Parastaran hit her second three of the game quickly into the second quarter and then she followed that in the next possession with a turnaround jumper to make the score 21-8. She had all of her team’s points at this point.

After those two quick scores, it was the Lady Railers picking up steam again. Get out of their way! After numerous steals where Froebe, Stoltzenburg and Heitzig were running wild, causing commotion, and sinking shots, the lead escalated to 34-8. Froebe capped off the 16-0 run with a three at the 1:45 mark and Lincoln was enjoying a 37-8 lead.

Time for Lincoln’s spark plug, Piper Whiteman, to get on the board. Whiteman was quick to score in the lane to make it a 39-10 ballgame. Hardin coined Whiteman "The Spark Plug,” along with his “Pretty Piper” nickname, and both he and Bowers agreed she deserves the “Sixth Man” award of the team. Whiteman would also sink a free throw to increase the lead to 40-10. With the second quarter winding down, Lincoln lucked into one more opportunity on offense after a bad pass by the Maroons. This time Tori Geriets saved the ball and tossed it to Froebe, who drained a three from the wing just ahead of the buzzer.

Lincoln was up 43-10 over the Maroons at the half.

Third Quarter

Here come the Lady Railers, fast and furious after a little down time in the locker room. The Lincoln scoring was Froebe, Stoltzenburg, Froebe again and finally Heitzig capping things off with absolute perfection on that jumper of hers. In the blink of an eye it was a 51-11 Lincoln lead. Things only got worse for Champaign Central, with Lincoln going up 58-12 after Froebe sank a couple more field goals and a free throw and Jenna Bowman added two points during this 7-1 scoring run. The third quarter score would rest on 60-15 after Froebe made a left-handed layup with just seconds remaining, another move that she really has perfected. The no. 1 senior in the state of Illinois can just separate the defense and leave them left watching her go to the rim. Of course, Whiteman helped intercept the traffic at the free throw line and Froebe used a fake to throw off the Maroon defenders as she drove right to the basket.

Fourth Quarter

Here comes the running clock. The fourth quarter scoring was highlighted by a four-point play by Whiteman and Mia Clark off the bench with three consecutive baskets. Whiteman’s three early in the quarter was good and so was the free throw she got to shoot after the foul on that one. Then it was Clark on her own 7-0 run to make the score 71-21. Clark hit a couple two-point field goals and sandwiched in the middle was a corner three that breezed through the net. Grace Schneider finished the scoring with a free throw and Lincoln was a big winner in Champaign, 72-21 the final score.

Lincoln will bring home a 27-0 record as they take the court on Tuesday night versus Mahomet-Seymour for Senior Night.

Senior players being recognized are: Kloe Froebe, Becca Heitzig, Jenna Bowman, Taryn Stoltzenburg and Tori Geriets.

Senior managers being recognized are Ryan Fruge, Destinee Harper and Tamari Pressoir.

Recognition of the seniors will take place in between the JV and Varsity games.

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

The Varsity game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.

Taking a look back at the JV game versus Champaign Central on Saturday it was Lincoln with the dominant 69-14 win to keep their undefeated season going with 20 wins and zero losses.

Lincoln was led in scoring by Mia Clark with 16 points.

Piper Whiteman and Ceana Adams each scored 13 points.

Makinley Knapp tossed in 12 points for the Lady Railers.

Just a few more notes:

What an honor to hear Lady Railer legend Jan Bowers on the radio/TV broadcast with Jay Hardin. Like Hardin, she possesses valuable basketball knowledge and a remarkable memory for history of the program, as she was once a Lady Railer standout in the 70’s and a coach of the team from 1985-1989. Bowers said she learned her broadcasting skills from two of the best: Sam Madonia and Bob Verderber. She also emphasized that Jay Hardin is wonderful to work with too.

Now here are some stats, confirmed by “The Stat Man” himself, Mr. Jay Hardin.

Kloe Froebe is sitting on 2,956 career points. Precisely 44 points will get her to the 3,000 point club. That will most likely happen this weekend in O’Fallon or Alton. Of course, Froebe can prove us all wrong and do it sooner than later. By the way, no other player in the history of LCHS basketball or Logan County for that matter has ever reached 3,000 career points. She will get to be president and CEO of that club. Can’t wait for the mic drop at the end of the season.

Let’s throw in Kloe’s family nickname here for fun. “Koko” is also sitting on 757 points this season. The record for points in a season by a senior is 807 and that is held by Steph Reichle. Froebe is looking to erase that record real soon and in fact, she is well on the way to shattering it.

And in case anyone has forgotten, Froebe did score over 1,000 points last season. As a junior she scored 1,045 points. A pretty spectacular career for most. One season for Froebe.

So now a little fun fact about the nickname. According to Kari Froebe, “Kent is always giving people nicknames and when she was born he just started calling her Koko. He really wanted her first name to be Jade, which is her middle name, but I told him we couldn’t have only one of us without a “K” name. They would feel left out.”

Now that is a story as cute as Koko’s dimples.

Meanwhile, after the games with Taylorville and Champaign this past week, two more Lady Railers have reached impressive milestones.

Becca Heitzig and Jenna Bowman have each eclipsed 800 points. The exact number of career points by each player is currently under review and LDN will keep readers posted on that information as it becomes available.

Congratulations, ladies, and keep those points coming!

Now go back and consider that these girls only played 18 games during their freshman Covid shortened season AND each one of them has missed games in their careers due to injuries. All things considered, these are remarkable accomplishments.

Please come out to Roy S. Anderson on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 and see ALL these seniors on the court for the last time in their careers. It will be special.

Let’s pack the gym for them and show our appreciation for all they have done.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 72

Froebe 38
Heitzig 8
Whiteman 7
Clark 7
Stoltzenburg 6
Bowman 3
Geriets 2
Schneider 1

Champaign Central 21

Parastaran 8
Bandy 8
Williams 3
Robinson 1
Parks 1

JV scoring

Lincoln 69

Clark 16
Whiteman 13
Adams 13
Knapp 12
Holmes 4
Gilbert 4
Hutchison 4
Perkins 2
Schneider 1

Champaign Central 14

Bandy 7
Rhone 5
Poe 2

[Teena Lowery]