Lincoln Lady Railers dominate Bloomington Purple Raiders on the hardwood

[December 09, 2016]  Lincoln outlasted Bloomington 70-62 on Thursday evening with Lincoln’s Kaelyn Froebe and Kennedy Lolling combined score 51 of the team’s season high 70 points.

The Lady Railers hosted the Bloomington Purple Raiders at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium Thursday night and while pronouncing Railers and Raiders can get a little confusing, there was no doubt about who dominated in this matchup.

The Lady Railers were hot from the get-go. Kaelyn Froebe started the offensive attack by scoring the first eight points for the Lady Railers, while the Purple Raiders were scoreless. A pass from Froebe to Kennedy Lolling for the layup gave the Lady Railers a 10-4 lead and this game was moving quickly.

The Purple Raiders kept the game at a fast pace in the first quarter and a steal and layup by Erica Williams would tie the game at 10-10 around the 3:00 mark.

The Lolling twins then kicked things into high gear and as Morgan Lolling finished the first quarter scoring for Lincoln with a three, the Lady Railers were up 15-13 over Bloomington.

Froebe’s jumper and Kennedy Lolling’s fast break layup just inside the second quarter put the Lady Railers up 19-13.

The Purple Raiders certainly were not resting on their heels in this one, but Froebe and Kennedy Lolling just kept the points coming. Kennedy Lolling came up big with a three point basket at the 5:00 mark and good thing because the 24-18 Lady Railers lead would be short-lived.

Ellie Weltha, Kamaria Gant and Olivia Falls ran off the next six points for Bloomington and it’s a brand new ballgame with the score 24-24.

The Lady Railers would get their next five points from free throws by Froebe, Hailie Williams and Emma Konczyk and Lincoln was back on top, 29-25 the score.

With just under a minute to play in the first half, Williams hit a three for Lincoln to give them a 32-26 lead that would remain until the buzzer sounded.

Whatever Lincoln Head Coach Taylor Richmond told the ladies in the locker room at halftime, certainly seemed to fire them up a bit.

Although, Froebe and Kennedy Lolling emerged from the locker room still on fire. Froebe quickly hit a three while Kennedy Lolling ran down court for a layup and the lead was getting comfortable again for Lincoln, 37-26 the score.

Gant connected for a three for Bloomington but then it was Kennedy Lolling with the explosive three of her own and the Lady Railers lead was 40-29.

Kennedy Lolling continued to combust and she outran the pack for three more layups in the quarter, bringing her third quarter total to 11 points and contributing in a big way to the 50-37 Lincoln lead here.

A solid quarter all around for Lincoln, outscoring Bloomington 18-11 in those eight minutes of play.

The Purple Raiders were not ready to surrender just yet and they came out in the fourth quarter quickly scoring the first four points to close the gap to 50-41.

Lincoln took a turn to show just how quickly they can put points up on the board and graciously went on a 7-0 run and a nice commanding 16 point lead, 57-41 with just under 5:00 left to play in the ballgame.

Lincoln managed to hold that lead until around the 2:00 mark. After Froebe’s layup that made the score 65-48, things began to go south for Lincoln. In this case actually, things went in favor of the team from the north.

Bloomington went on a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter and just like that the score was 65-57 with 1:18 left to play.

Free throws would be a little hit and miss for both teams in the final minute and with Lincoln having the big lead to fall back on, the Lady Railers prevailed and hit the 70 point mark with the win, 70-62 the final over Bloomington.

Kaelyn Froebe led Lincoln with 26 points and Kennedy Lolling was as close as one get in second place with 25 points. A great effort from these two juniors who were helped by Hailie Williams with 9 points, Morgan Lolling with 7 points, and Emma Konczyk, who came off the bench to score 3 points.

Just a little note, while Froebe was dropping 26 points on Bloomington, her mom, Kari Froebe, was guiding the 7th grade WLB Wolverines to a state championship. Not a bad night in the Froebe household. Congratulations to all!

Lincoln’s next game is this Saturday at Jacksonville. The JV is scheduled for 11 a.m. and the Varsity is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

The Lady Railers record improves to 3-5 on the season.

[Teena Lowery]