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 Even Head Coach Taylor Richmond, who has been battling the flu the
last few days, said following the game of the Lincoln-Lanphier
matchup, “I wouldn’t have missed it.” Coach Richmond was all smiles
following the 71-56 win over their CS8 opponent, Springfield
Lanphier. Not only was the performance impressive by the “Splash
Sisters” but the entire team effort was amazing.
The Lady Railers played as hard last night on the court as ever and
despite a couple near comebacks by the Lady Lions, Lincoln just kept
turning things up a notch and eventually ran away with it.
Coach Richmond was very proud of the ladies, especially on defense.
"The girls played very hard and they ran our defense to perfection.
They cut off the sideline and really moved their feet. For the most
part we stopped the dribble-drive. It was just a lot of fun to watch
that kind of defense and that kind of intensity,” she said.
 As far as the offensive effort from her two leading scorers, she
noted, "Froebe and Kennedy Lolling really were hitting from the
outside but their teammates were getting them the ball and that is
something that we really discuss. If you’re not the scorer that
night then be the best passer out there because really you can’t
shoot a good shot if you don’t get a good pass. I thought that
everybody played such a great game and it was a complete team
effort.”
It was a complete team effort, although it started out to look like
Kennedy Lolling versus Lanphier. She made the first thirteen points
for Lincoln that started with a three at the 7:20 mark. By the time
the clock was showing 4:39 it was a Lolling-led Lincoln 13 and
Lanphier 3.
The Lincoln defense was “on” from the get-go and several forced
turnovers allowed the Lady Railers to just run circles around the
Lady Lions.
With 1:23 on the clock, Kaeyln Froebe decided to take the ball
baseline for a layup and she was just getting started. Lincoln’s
lead was now 15-7 and Lanphier was more than just a little rattled.
With just under a minute to play in the first quarter Froebe got a
beautiful pass from Morgan Lolling and nailed a three to extend the
lead to 18-7.
The quarter ended with Lincoln up 18-9 as Froebe and Kennedy Lolling
combined for the entire 18 points, who knew what was yet to come.
Lanphier obviously regrouped between quarters and in the second they
came out fired up, along with their crowd. Lanphier really put
pressure on the ball and they were able to get six points up on the
board quickly to only one basket during that time from Morgan
Lolling.
At the 6:20 mark the score was still in favor of Lincoln, 20-15, but
it looked as if the momentum was going towards the way of the home
team. It was the combination of Froebe and Lauren Block that put a
stop to that. At 5:12 Block had the ball on the inside and quickly
fired it back out to Froebe, who knocked down a big three. Lincoln
needed that basket to quiet the Lanphier crowd.
A timeout was called by Lanphier as Lincoln’s lead was built back
up, 23-15 the score.
Following the timeout, Lincoln would get the ball back following a
Lanphier miss and this time down the court it was sister to sister
as Morgan found Kennedy wanting the ball out in 'no-woman’s land'
and she connected for a three that really put the hush over the
Lanphier crowd, 26-15 the score.
 But oh how quickly things happen on the basketball court, especially
when these girls are moving so fast they are barely leaving
footprints on the hardwood. Lanphier managed to steal the ball under
their basket as Lincoln was taking the ball out, not once but twice,
and both times Jeniya Griffin and Arrion Burton scored layups for
the Lady Lions.
Lanphier would continue to fight defensively like the Lady Lions
they are, and to their credit they managed a couple more steals over
the next minute or so, and just like that the ballgame was even more
intense.
Lincoln fans glanced up at the scoreboard around the 2:00 mark to
see Lanphier closing in, 28-25 now the score.
Finally, Kennedy Lolling would spot Hailie Williams under the basket
and she fired a pass into the senior who tossed it in for two
points. A nice bucket in the paint for Lincoln, as much of the night
they had to play around 6’2 junior Blessing Casey from Lanphier.
Lanphier’s Martrice Brooks’ three-point play around a minute left in
the half edged Lanphier closer, 30-28 and then after Lincoln was
called for five seconds on the inbounds, the ball went to Lanphier
and in the hands of Griffin. She dribbled down the court and danced
her way thru the lane to tie the game with :10 seconds showing,
30-30 the score and one exciting ballgame at Lober-Nika Gymnasium.
Williams would get fouled on the drive to the basket for Lincoln
just before halftime and the senior knocked down one free throw to
give Lincoln a slim 31-30 advantage going to the locker room.
Everyone needed a rest by this time, fans included, but hold on
tight for the second half.
By the way, first half scoring had Kennedy Lolling leading the way
with 16 points, while Froebe had 10 points for Lincoln.
Here comes that much anticipated third quarter. Lincoln showed they
were able to catch their breath again following the brief rest and
the ladies came out quickly in the third stealing the ball from
Lanphier and tossing it ahead to Kennedy Lolling for the layup.
Grace Bossingham then took it to Casey in the paint and even though
Bossingham lost here, she got the last laugh with two free throws
and the Lincoln lead was back up to 35-30.
 Another three by Froebe would extend the lead to 38-32 at the
6:00 mark.
But Lanphier was still on the move and making great plays, too.
Jaala Smylie got an offensive rebound for Lanphier and she managed
to put the ball back up with her back to the basket and it was good
for two points. A bonus for her, she was fouled by Williams. The
free throw that Smylie bounced through the net made the score 38-35.
Then at 4:25 it was Froebe who just kind'a decided at the last
second to pop a three and when you’re feeling it on a night like
this, those last minute decisions go in, nothing but net. That
bucket was huge for Lincoln and the lead was 41-35.
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Less than 20 seconds later Lincoln ended up with the ball again and
Froebe went to the bucket and gave Lincoln a 43-35 lead.
At precisely the 3:00 mark Kennedy Lolling got a nice pass from
Froebe and it was Kennedy reaching the 20-point mark already with
that bucket and Lincoln was up with a nice 45-37 lead. A minute
later Froebe had 20 points as her layup bounces good through the
net. This was looking like a good night for these two.
Lincoln got a huge boost off the bench from Emma Konczyk next. The
5’9 sophomore entered the game and played like a veteran out there
on the court. She drove the lane and tossed in her first basket with
1:23 on the clock and this gave Lincoln a 10 point lead, 49-39.
After Griffin launched a three from basically the Lady Lions bench,
Konczyk went to the other end of the court and gave the Lincoln fans
something to cheer about, again. She took a quick pass from Morgan
Lolling and drove the lane again for two points. Nice move by
Konczyk and now a 51-42 Lincoln lead.
The score at the end of three quarters would rest at 51-43 with the
final eight minutes of excitement coming up.
Two quick baskets to open the fourth quarter by, you guessed it,
Froebe and Kennedy Lolling, would force Lanphier to call an
immediate timeout and hopefully cool these girls off, on their part.
Spoiler alert: That did NOT work in Lanphier’s favor. The timeout
only fueled the Lady Railers and the result was a layup by Kennedy
Lolling followed by a three from Froebe and while this could get
repetitive, it won’t be annoying to Lincoln fans.
Froebe also found Morgan Lolling open and as she tossed one through
the net, Lincoln was up by a commanding 62-43 lead with 4:40 showing
on the clock.
The Lady Lions never rolled over though. They fought their way back
to a 62-48 ballgame just before Lincoln’s defense exploded for one
steal after another and Kennedy Lolling had one layup after another.
She made two of the three layups, being fouled on the third one and,
of course, she did take advantage at the line by sinking one of
them. That last free throw she sank would be her career high 29th
point.
Lincoln’s lead was maintained through all that, 67-48.
A layup by Froebe made the score 69-50 but then two big threes by
Lanphier, one each by Griffin and Kiya Holman, ignited the Lanphier
crowd that stuck around.
Those buckets came a little too late for Lanphier as Froebe stepped
to the free throw line with 15.2 seconds left on the clock. As
Froebe made both of those free throws, the junior had also reached
her career high of 29 points as a Lady Railer.
As both ladies, Froebe and Kennedy Lolling, would probably say, what
was more important was the 71-56 win the team had earned. An
all-around fantastic effort by the visitors from Lincoln adorned in
those dark green uniforms.
Following the win, a red-faced Kennedy Lolling was one of the first
players to emerge from the locker room. Congratulations were in
order and Kennedy said, “I was just on tonight,” with a big smile.
Of the Central State 8 matchup she said, "It was a big game tonight.
We knew we wanted to go out with a bang and we needed to prove that
we were still good in the CS8.”
Worth mentioning, too, before and after the game, the Lanphier
announcer wished the Lady Railers well as they move onto the Apollo
Conference next season.
Back to Kennedy Lolling for a second. To go with her 29 points, zero
fouls. This young lady plays so fierce all 32 minutes on the court,
I had to ask how she escaped the win without a foul. Her answer, “I
have no idea. That was surprising.”
Next up for the Lady Railers another huge CS8 game with Sacred
Heart-Griffin on Saturday night, with the JV scheduled for 3 p.m.
and the Varsity scheduled for 5 p.m.
As for Kennedy’s thoughts on SHG, “It’s another big game and we just
need to come out and play like we did tonight.”
Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium Saturday night will be the place to be and
you will be guaranteed some exciting basketball.
In the meantime, many congratulations to the entire Lady Railers
team on the big win over Lanphier and specifically a shout-out to
those “Splash Sisters” for pouring in 29 points each. Congrats,
Kaelyn and Kennedy! We know there’s more to come!
Lincoln scoring
Kennedy Lolling 29
Froebe 29
Morgan Lolling 4
Konczyk 4
Williams 3
Bossingham 2
Lanphier scoring
Griffin 19
Brooks 12
Smylie 7
Burton 7
Williams 4
Holman 3
Casey 2
Allen 2
[Teena Lowery] |
