WLB 8th grade girls basketball punch ticket to IESA State Basketball Tournament

[December 07, 2017] 

The 2017 West Lincoln-Broadwell Lady Wolverines are making history. For the first time in the school’s history both the 7th and 8th grade girls basketball teams are participating in the IESA State Tournament.

On Wednesday night in Ashland at the Class 8-1A Sectional Championship WLB took down a much bigger team from Springfield Christian by a final of 41-30.

WLB was outmatched in size Wednesday night in the sectional championship but in terms of heart, the Lady Wolverines outplayed Springfield Christian.

Three players from Springfield Christian towered over the much smaller Lady Wolverines in fact. But when you are smaller and quicker and do not back down from anything, as in the case with the Lady Wolverines, you hold a significant advantage over the opponent.

 Coach Kari Froebe’s squad plays with an amazing amount of discipline and they are mentally focused on the game from the tip-off until the final buzzer. Junior high girls basketball at its finest here.

The Lady Wolverines jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the first quarter over the Lady Wildcats and even though Springfield Christian would edge a little closer throughout the game, WLB never gave up the lead. Kloe Froebe connected for a three at the 1:00 mark and WLB was up 11-6 much to the delight of the Lady Wolverine crowd. At the end of the first quarter WLB was on top 12-8.

WLB got free throws from Tori Schilling, Asia Sales and Elly Martinez in the second quarter to hold a slim 16-14 lead with 1:32 to play in the half. The Lady Wildcats had picked up their game in the second quarter and actually outscored WLB 8-7 in the quarter. But the real crowd pleaser of the second quarter was the corner three from Sales that rattled the rim and was good for a 19-14 WLB lead. The Lady Wildcats managed one more field goal to close out the quarter. WLB held a 19-16 lead at halftime.

WLB hit the court in the third quarter and just wrecked havoc on the Lady Wildcats. The Lady Wolverines played outstanding defense and on the offense they were not missing a shot. Schilling sank both her free throws to start the third quarter scoring.

Then Froebe’s field goal from just inside the top of the key gave WLB a 23-16 lead. Sales then hit her third three of the game to give WLB a 10-point lead.

A WLB steal at the 2:00 mark led to Froebe being fouled on the drive to the basket and she was a perfect 2-for-2 from the line, despite Springfield Christian calling a timeout after she hit the first one. Nothing rattles this young lady. A high arch on her free throws, but nothing but net when they fall through.

After a spectacular third quarter performance by the Lady Wolverines the score was 28-16. Yes, WLB held the Lady Wildcats scoreless in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter began with Sales tossing a pass downcourt to Froebe, who spun around and laid it in the basket for a 30-16 lead. WLB controlled the fourth quarter and while keeping the lead, managed to dribble considerable time off the clock. Springfield Christian would get back in the scoring column in the fourth quarter, but nothing that would shake up the WLB girls.

The Lady Wolverines, however, continued to shake things up. In less than a minute of play, WLB would score six quick points. First it was Sales on the drive for two points. Then a steal by Jazmyn Robbins and the pass to Froebe was good for another two points. Finally a steal on the inbounds pass by Froebe gave her the opportunity to pad the lead and she did with another two points.

WLB was up 36-20 with 4:12 left to play in the game. Wisely the ladies ran more time off the clock and the Lady Wildcats were unable to adjust to this style of play by the much smaller opponent. WLB would sink a few more free throws and Froebe would hit another field goal to round out the scoring.

Finally with about ten seconds left to play in the game, the Lady Wolverines broke their game faces and smiled. This team had a 41-30 win in the books and would be going to state. They could finally celebrate. They were going to join the 7th grade team and make history.

Kloe Froebe played a terrific game and led WLB with 17 points. Asia Sales was outstanding in her play and contributed 16 points in the win. Tori Schilling tossed in 7 points and Elly Martinez completed the scoring with a free throw.

As for Coach Kari Froebe, she was excited once again for her Lady Wolverines. “This is the first time ever,” she beamed, referencing the two teams she will be coaching at State in the coming days. “We’ve never had both the 7th and 8th grade teams at State,” Froebe said with a big smile. “This 8th grade team is a special group. I think they are 90-2 overall, their 5th thru 8th grade year. So they’ve had two losses over their whole junior high career. They put in the work. As you can see, we are always outmatched. We are truly outmatched in size. But these girls play with heart and they come out and they know what they’ve got to do. They know their roles. They knew they had to sandwich the big girls and I thought they did that to perfection. We really sandwiched the post players. I knew they were going to get a couple quick putbacks here and there on the boards. We were trying to limit them to just one shot. That was our goal. If we could just give up a couple of those, we would be okay. We didn't want to get into a track race with them. So that’s how we tried to slow the game down. I knew it was going to come down to time. They set in that 2-3 zone and they were big. So we wanted to basically spread it out a little bit, waste some time, pull them out of that zone because we knew we could go man-to-man with them. It worked.”

It absolutely worked and now the 25-0 Lady Wolverines will play Saturday at the Class 8-1A IESA State Tournament in Lexington. WLB will take on Washington St. Patrick (21-1) in the 1:00 p.m. game. The semifinal games will be played that evening.

Congratulations to the 8th Grade Lady Wolverines!

Scores by quarter:

WLB 12 19 28 41
SC 8 16 16 30

WLB (41)

Froebe 17
Sales 16
Schilling 7
Martinez 1

Springfield Christian (30)

Komolafe 14
Byrd 6
Smylie 6
Standefer 2
Buhnerkemper 2

[Teena Lowery]

Added note: West Lincoln-Broadwell plays tonight in the 7th Grade Class 1A State Tournament.

The Lady Wolverines (27-0) take on Carrollton St. John (21-1) in the state championship game at 7:30 in Assumption.

Following the game the Lady Wolverines will travel via Route 121 back to Lincoln and will be picked up at the corner of Broadway and Limit Street where the firetrucks will escort the team up Broadway and around the courthouse square.

Best of luck to the 7th Grade Lady Wolverines tonight!

[Teena Lowery]