Effingham breaks the hearts of Lincoln on Senior Night

[February 10, 2018] 

The Effingham Flaming Hearts made the trek to Lincoln Thursday night with a mission in mind. Effingham no doubt wanted to seek revenge for the 42-41 loss Lincoln had given them on their home court on January 23, 2018.

But more importantly at stake for Effingham was an outright win of the Apollo Conference if they could defeat the Lady Railers. Mission accomplished for the Flaming Hearts.

To add insult to injury the Flaming Hearts did all this on Senior Night for the Lady Railers. Lincoln’s starting five - all seniors - took the 44-33 defeat graciously and stood on the court with the rest of the team clapping as Effingham was presented the Apollo Conference plaque by Neil Alexander following the game. True champions who’ve experienced highs and lows in their careers yet continue to hold their heads up and move on - that’s our Lady Railers.

The Lady Railers will move on to the IHSA Regionals hosted by Springfield Lanphier next week. Lincoln will play on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. versus the winner of the Lanphier/Jacksonville game.

Before moving on let’s recap the events of Thursday evening at Roy S. Anderson. Starting with the positive.

The Lady Railers JV team did squeak out a 32-26 win over Effingham.

In the JV game, Lincoln led at the half 19-12 and continued to be in control after three quarters, 24-17 the score.

But Lincoln fan, photographer, scorekeeper, part-time custodian and all-around go-to person for sports information, Lynn Paulus, put it best when she said, “We let them back in this game.”

Effingham gave Lincoln a scare as they pulled to within a point around the 5:00 mark. With Lincoln leading 24-23, freshman Jasmine Davis drove the lane and drew a foul. She calmly sank two free throws and Lincoln’s lead was 26-23. A couple free throws by the Flaming Hearts made the score 26-25 with 3:16 remaining. The next couple minutes was filled with missed shots, turnovers and timeouts.

Finally with 33.8 remaining Jennifer Porlas was fouled and the junior swished both shots to give Lincoln a bit of breathing room. Effingham had a chance down 28-25 but they quickly just tossed the ball away.

This gave freshman Makayla Anderson a chance to shine. With 14.9 seconds left she launched a three that was nothing but net and the sweet sound of “swish” made the crowd erupt.

Lincoln was in the driver’s seat now with a 31-25 lead. Each team would sink a final free throw to settle the score at 32-26. A good win for the Lincoln JV to end their season at 11-5.

Jennifer Porlas and Madelyn Koehler each led Lincoln with 10 points.

Senior Night recognitions

In between games the large crowd on hand recognized the five senior basketball players and the one senior manager.

The five ladies have all played basketball together since third grade. The former Lady Wolverines made family, friends and fans proud as they achieved great success on and off the court as Lady Railers.

Kaelyn Froebe walked out first with her parents, Kent and Kari. Kaelyn will attend McKendree University on a basketball scholarship. She plans to study psychology in college.

Haley Hicks was introduced next with her parents, Tim and Kris. Haley plans to attend college and study nursing.

Manager Ruth Lessen was sandwiched in the middle of the athlete introductions. Ruth played basketball for three years before taking over manager duties this season. Ruth plans to attend college and major in engineering. She is the daughter of Eldon and Marti.

When twins Kennedy and Morgan Lolling were introduced to the crowd, they walked out arm in arm with their parents, Kyle and Jenny. Both girls will attend Lincoln College on athletic scholarships. Kennedy will play basketball for the Lady Lynx and Morgan will join the volleyball program at Lincoln College.

Emerie Wieber was the final athlete introduced on Senior Night. She walked out with her parents, Jason and Casie. Emerie plans to attend ISU to study nursing.

Each one of these girls will undoubtedly achieve great success beyond high school. If it’s any indication at all, the way they play on the court will surely indicate how they “attack life” beyond their high school years.

In the meantime, they took that tenacious attitude to the circle to tip off against Effingham on Neil Alexander Court Thursday night.

The Flaming Hearts 6’0 senior Shelby Myers got the tip over Emerie Wieber and Myers got the first bucket of the ballgame.

Kaelyn Froebe answered back by scoring Lincoln’s first two buckets and giving the Lady Railers a 4-2 lead.

Kennedy Lolling hit the first three of the game and Lincoln was up 7-2.

After Leah Schneider entered the game she made her signature move in the paint and Lincoln was up 9-6 with 1:45 on the clock.

Wieber picked up her second foul of the quarter with 4.5 seconds remaining and this sent Abby Weis to the line. She sank both shots and after a miss by one of the Lolling twins at the buzzer, the first quarter closed with Lincoln up by a slim margin, 9-8 the score.

The second quarter began with Kennedy Lolling getting two quick fouls called on her.

Then a corner three from Carsyn Fearday put the Flaming Hearts up 11-9.

While Lincoln would tie the game at 13-13, the Lady Railers would not see a lead again in this contest.

Leah Schneider kept Lincoln in the thick of things here with her two field goals, but the rest of the quarter was pretty much a disaster for Lincoln. The only category Lincoln outnumbered Effingham in would be fouls. Around the 3:00 mark Lincoln had seven fouls to Effingham’s three fouls.

Schneider accounted for all the Lincoln offense in the second quarter and after she sank a free throw, the well went dry for the Lady Railers.

Back to back threes by Fearday put a dagger in the hearts of the Lady Railers and they went to the locker room down 22-14 to the Flaming Hearts.

Lincoln came out of the halftime locker room reenergized and made a couple early field goals but then went on about a three-minute scoring drought. Give the Flaming Hearts some credit. They honestly denied Lincoln a good shot from beyond the perimeter and just when the Lady Railers were all about feeding Schneider in the middle, a sea of red would converge on the sophomore.

At the 2:06 mark Effingham’s Miranda Fox hit a three to extend the lead to 27-18.

Lincoln kept trying but offensively nothing was going right. Finally Kennedy Lolling got away from the crowd and hit a bank shot with 16.7 left on the third quarter clock. Lincoln entered the final quarter down 27-20. A steep mountain to climb from here.

With Lincoln digging themselves into a hole down 32-22 with 4:20 left to play, it was gonna take a miracle to pull this one out against a hot-shooting Effingham team. The basketball gods were not on the Railers side this night. At one point it seemed like the Railers were committing more fouls than baskets.

With 1:15 to play Lincoln still trailed by ten points. With the score eventually reaching 39-27, hope was running out.

Froebe kept that hope alive with two quick threes late in the game, but it just wasn’t enough. Both Kennedy Lolling and Froebe would foul out in the final seconds and Lincoln would have to swallow this tough loss. 44-33 the final score.

Lincoln (20-9) overall record.

A win would have put Lincoln in a three-way Apollo Conference tie with Effingham and Charleston but instead Lincoln falls into third place with a 9-3 conference record.

Sitting above them is Charleston with a 10-2 record.

Meanwhile, the Flaming Hearts take home the conference championship with an 11-1 record.

Carsyn Fearday led all scorers in the contest with 19 points.

Kaelyn Froebe led Lincoln with 13 points. Leah Schneider tossed in 11 points for the Lady Railers.

Lincoln (33)

Froebe 13
Schneider 11
K. Lolling 7
M. Lolling 2

Effingham (44)

Fearday 19
Weis 9
Fox 8
Myers 5
Carie 2

Lincoln JV (32)

Koehler 10
Porlas 10
Davis 5
Presswood 4
Anderson 3

Effingham (26)

Diveley 8
Armstrong 6
Koester 5
Herboth 3
Carie 2
Buscher 2

[Teena Lowery]