High School Girls Basketball
Lincoln beats Montini
One down one to go!
Lincoln vs. Chatham Glenwood
The CS8 matchup for the state title!
Team improves to 37-0

 

[March 02, 2024] 

This really should come as no surprise to the Lady Railer faithful ~ your team is once again in the championship game of the IHSA Class 3A Girls Basketball State Tournament in Normal. What does come as a bit of surprise is their opponent ~ Chatham Glenwood.

The two Central State Eight rivals will meet today at 5:30 p.m. for the coveted first place trophy. Lincoln wants it bad. They proudly wear #onegoal on the back of their warmups. The five seniors ~ FROEBE, HEITZIG, BOWMAN, STOLTZENBURG AND GERIETS ~ are finally down to that one last game of their high school careers.

Don’t bet against them.

The Lady Railers have already shown fans thirty-seven times this season that they cannot be stopped. The opponent might be bigger, but Lincoln plays smarter and with more heart than anyone else on the court.

Win no. 37 on the season came on Friday at CEFCU Arena as Lincoln took down Montini Catholic High School of Lombard 58-41.

The win was particularly sweet for the younger sisters of Coach Taylor Rohrer, who were used to getting knocked out of postseason play by the Lady Broncos, dating back to more than a decade ago. And even though the Lady Broncos were stacked this season with talent, that didn’t faze the Lady Railers who have more than a decade worth of experience playing together themselves.

This Lady Railers squad is as fundamentally sound as any basketball team you will ever see, they’ve proven that over and over this season. They put their defense on autopilot every single game and absolutely destroy their opponent. Friday’s game was no different. Lincoln forced 17 turnovers. The Lady Railers earned 19 points on turnovers to Montini’s nine points.

Even though the Lady Railers starters barely played four quarters a game all season, they are still conditioned to play four quarters of hard-nosed basketball. That is key. No one is tougher on the court than these little Lincoln girls. They get knocked down and they get right back up.

They will always find a way to win.
 

The Lady Railers put on a clinic in ball handling at CEFCU Arena on Friday too. After repeatedly chasing down Froebe, Heitzig, Bowman and Stoltzenburg with the ball, the Lady Broncos looked particularly confused and frustrated when another Lady Railer player came rambling up the court with her signature hard dribble. The Lady Broncos look said it all, “Oh here comes another one who can dribble.” It was none other than Piper Whiteman.

The speed and agility of Lincoln certainly seemed to take the Lady Broncos by surprise. One minute any particular piece of these interchangeable parts that is the Lady Railers well-oiled machine could be at the top of the key, smothered by the opponent, and the next second another part might be sliding and dribbling on her knees (Froebe in this case) and or dribbling behind her back (Froebe here too). Whatever the case, the Lady Railers are always able to move the ball quickly and get out of trouble. Their quick, no-look passes are something Lincoln fans have certainly gotten accustomed to, but it’s not something all teams can do. Really no other team does it like Lincoln.

And they do all of this without saying a word to one another on the court. They let their game speak for them.

Here’s where the talking starts.

First Quarter

Lincoln will win the tip but it’ll take just over thirty seconds for the Lady Railers to score. When they do score, it’ll be Kloe Froebe on the drive and after the missed layup she snags the rebound with three Lady Broncos around her and goes back up for the 2-0 lead. She’s started many games like that and it never gets old. In Lincoln’s next possession, Froebe drove the lane again and then kicked it out to Taryn Stoltzenburg, who hit the corner three with the Montini student section cheering for her in the background. Montini will come roaring back like a buckin’ Bronco and take a 7-5 lead over Lincoln by the 5:00 mark.

But this isn’t the Lady Railers first rodeo.

Jenna Bowman, who can easily go from Homecoming Queen to sliding into characters like Stu from “The Hangover,” decided to take on the role of WNBA 3-point star Sabrina Ionescu for this game. She started by banking in a three from the top of the key that nearly blew the roof off the arena when it gave her team an 8-7 lead.

But darn those Broncos, they answered back with a three from Shea Carver and took the lead again.

No worries. Bowman was ready to strike again. This time it’s Becca Heitzig penetrating the lane and when she sees Bowman clap for the ball at the top of the key, she politely obliges with the pass. A split-second later the ball is in the air and as the ball gently taps the rim and falls through the net, the Broncos fans look at each other in bewilderment. Bowman is going to secure the lead for Lincoln for good with that three. It is now 11-10 with 3:52 left in the first quarter. Froebe will add the final five points in the quarter with a bucket in the lane and three free throws. Froebe’s last point of the quarter is another history-making moment. She sank the free throw that moved her into fifth place on the all-time scoring list for girls in the history of Illinois High School Basketball with 44.8 seconds on the clock. That impressive achievement also gave her team a 16-10 first quarter lead.

Second Quarter

Montini struck first in the second quarter with a three by Nicolette Kerstein then it was Froebe back in the scoring column with a two, then it was Kerstein again with another three. This has to stop. No one hotter than Bowman right now from three-point land and she would deliver again. Are you kidding?! With 5:05 on the clock Bowman stretched the Lincoln lead to 21-16. Add in two free throws from Whiteman seconds later and the Lincoln lead was 23-16. That’s better. After Stoltzenburg’s two free throws, it was time for “Jenna B for 3” again. This time Bowman’s three put Lincoln up 28-18 with 1:30 left to play in the quarter. And her shot was right in front of the Montini student section again. They sure were on their feet for her but there was no applause and their body language showed defeat. They were really going to feel defeated soon with the score 31-18 as Froebe quieted them down with a lonely free throw and then a steal and layup from the left side with :37 seconds left. For the remainder of the quarter Montini fans just stood still with arms folded and made glances at the scoreboard. This is not what they had paid for. A free throw later and the Montini fans barely clapped. They did finally cheer right before halftime when Peyton Farrell hit a three and that would set the score at 31-22.
 

Third Quarter

Heitzig gets in the scoring column here and gives Lincoln a 33-22 lead with her jumper that makes the crowd go wild. Next thing you know, it’s Bowman with another three, her fifth of the game and Lincoln is up 36-25. After two more baskets in the paint by Froebe, Lincoln’s little run was successful and the lead was now 40-25. The Lady Broncos cut the lead to 40-30 moments later. With Froebe and Heitzig making a free throw here and there, Lincoln would take a 43-32 lead going into the last quarter. The win was all but written in stone.

Fourth Quarter

Lincoln is going to build their biggest lead of the game thanks to a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter. With Froebe tossing in seven points and Heitzig adding three points, the lead was 53-32 and Montini was simply lost on the court. They seemed so lost that the Lincoln student section picked up on it and began cleverly chanting, “Thanks for practice!”

As the final minute of the game drew closer, Railer Nation proclaimed, “We want Glenwood!” That prompted the Montini students to come up with “Where is Lincoln?” As someone later pointed out, “Lincoln is playing for a state title.” Following the “Where is Lincoln?” chant, Froebe sank one more free throw and then after missing free throw no. 2, she fought for the long rebound and in typical fashion she spun around and drove to the basket, with several Lady Broncos along for the ride, for two more points before her exit to thunderous applause. With her fellow starters already on the bench, there were high fives and hugs all around, with the opportunity of going to the ‘ship on the horizon. With twenty seconds left Makinley Knapp calmly sank the final two free throws of the game and at the other end of the court Natalie Gartlan made a three to finish the scoring for Montini. Game over.

The final score of 58-41 flashed around the multi-dimensional scoreboard hanging above center court and just like that Lincoln got another opportunity to fulfill every basketball player's dream: the chance to play in the very last game of the season.

One more game, kids.

Bring the tissues. You’ll need ‘em by the end and if you don’t need ‘em, hand yours to Piper Whiteman.

Lincoln was led in scoring by Kloe Froebe with 27 points. Friday’s game gave Froebe 3,226 career points with one more game left. Froebe also pulled down nine rebounds and led the team with five steals.

Jenna Bowman came to play on Friday and she tallied 15 points for the Lady Railers.

Becca Heitzig’s tenacity on the court allowed her to pull down nine rebounds plus she poured in seven second half points.

Montini was led by Victoria Matulevicius with 12 points.

Other notes:

Late Thursday afternoon IHSA named their 2024 Illinois Media All-State Girls Basketball Class 3A and 4A teams.

Kloe Froebe was the leading vote getter with 125 points while making the First Team.

Becca Heitzig made the Honorable Mention list.

For the stat lovers, you already know that Lincoln forced 17 turnovers. Lincoln got the best of Montini in a few noteworthy categories. Lincoln had 30 team rebounds to Montini’s 21. Lincoln had 15 steals to Montini’s five points. Lincoln had 20 points in the paint to Montini’s 10 points. Lincoln had nine second chance points to Montini’s two points. Lincoln was incredible with 16 points on the fast break and Montini is hardly worth mentioning with four points on the fast break. It’s pretty tough to score when Lincoln beats you down the court on your attempt at a fast break. Montini did beat Lincoln on blocks, 7-1. But since they were pretty even in height with Lincoln, they’ll probably go out and get some six-footers for next season.

Here is a pretty cool “stat” that the Lincoln-Glenwood game will probably beat. The official attendance for the game starting at 9:30 a.m. on Friday was 1,649. By the time Lincoln tipped-off around 11:15 a.m. on Friday the attendance was 3,794. The radio announcers commented about how packed CEFCU Arena was with Lincoln and Chatham Glenwood fans and that a state championship between the two teams would be a dream for the IHSA. With the two teams set to face off on a Saturday night and everyone wanting to see Froebe, Heitzig, Bowman, Stoltzenburg and Geriets taking the court for one last time, it is sure to be a packed house. Bring it, fans!

Finally here is a section that could be titled, “The funniest things kids say.

After the game the Montini students were walking out and they were overheard saying this: “I can’t believe we drove all the way down here to play for third place.”

Their mood was light-hearted and they appeared to be football players, you know, the ones used to winning.

Those same guys had studied the Lincoln lineup enough to know the Lady Railers by their first names.

Now you have to chuckle at this comment, too as one young man said to the group, “I thought we guarded Kloe pretty well and then I looked up and she had almost 30 points.”

That same Kloe said some very profound words in the post game press conference after this question was presented by Sam Knox, “What are some thoughts from the seniors about one more game with this great group of girls?”

Froebe offered this: “I’m not going into that game thinking about that. I know we’re just trying to go into the game and come away with a win and I think when that final buzzer rings I think that we’ll feel it and I think it won’t hit for a while and when it does I think it’ll be hard but, umm, I mean only the luckiest of people are able to have something so hard to let go of.”

Heitzig was sitting directly to Froebe’s left and she smiled and even clapped quietly for her friend. There were lots of smiles from the other girls too.

Coach Taylor Rohrer has had a first-hand view of these friendships for four years and she added, “Just because they won’t get to play together, they’re still gonna be best friends and they’re still gonna be there for one another. So the basketball part of it might’ve built the friendship but the friendship is going to last a lifetime with these kids.”

So will the memories these kids have created for the community.

Scoring

Lincoln 58

Froebe 27
Bowman 15
Heitzig 7
Stoltzenburg 5
Whiteman 2
Knapp 2

Montini 41

Matulevicius 12
Farrell 9
Kerstein 9
Epps 5
Carver 3
Gartlan 3

[Teena Lowery]