Lincoln Lady Railers sweep Peoria Notre Dame on Neil Alexander Court

[January 16, 2018] 

The Lady Railers Varsity Basketball Team continued play in the Galesburg Martin Luther King Tournament by hosting Peoria Notre Dame on Monday night at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium.

The ladies took the court for the first time since the floor had been named after Lincoln Railsplitters Coach Neil Alexander and they didn’t waste anytime in the scoring department. Kaelyn Froebe connected from long distance for two quick threes to start the game and then fellow WLB alum Kennedy Lolling launched one from downtown to extend the opening lead to 9-0. Morgan Lolling hit for two points quickly thereafter and the baskets were falling fast and furious for the Lady Railers early.

Leah Schneider’s bucket in the lane off the nice assist from Froebe extended the lead to 13-0 at exactly the 5:00 mark and Lincoln was hot hot hot on this otherwise colder than - you fill in that blank - evening.

Peoria Notre Dame would finally get on the board with a bucket from Bridget Taylor but Lincoln continued to dominate the quarter. Froebe’s two free throws to close out the quarter put Lincoln up comfortably 17-5.

The second quarter story begins with Lincoln playing some nasty defense on the Irish. The ladies held Peoria Notre Dame scoreless for the first three minutes of play here. In return the Irish were denying Lincoln a good shot until the Lady Railers were able to get it to Schneider in the lane, who in return banked it in for the largest Lincoln lead at this point, 19-5 now the score.

But the Irish proved they could shoot the long ball and three consecutive threes was all it took for them to ignite a comeback. With the score 19-14, Emma Konczyk put a stop to the 9-0 run and stole the ball from the Irish. Konczyk then dished it off to Froebe for the layup and the Lincoln lead was 21-14. Kaitlyn Osmulski would score one more bucket in the quarter for Peoria Notre Dame and the Lincoln lead at the half had been cut to 21-16.

The 7th and 8th Grade State Champion Lady Wolverines were recognized at halftime of the Lady Railers game Monday night.

Buckets by Froebe and Kennedy Lolling extended the third quarter lead to 25-16. The Lincoln offense was a flashback to the fast and furious play of the first quarter here. With Froebe and Morgan Lolling hitting from the outside and Schneider and Kennedy Lolling cranking out buckets in the lane, Lincoln built up a 37-22 lead with 3:48 on the clock in the third quarter. The quarter would end with Lincoln in control 38-26 and the ladies showing no signs of wearing down.

Leah Schneider fights her way to the basket in the fourth quarter Monday night versus Peoria Notre Dame.

The Irish were not about to give up the fight either and they managed to crawl their way back as close as five points before Lincoln turned up the heat again. Actually it was Schneider who would be the hottest of the Lady Railers in the fourth quarter. She was the only Lady Railer to hit a field goal in the quarter, three to be exact, with the rest of the points coming from the free throw line. Schneider’s nine consecutive points in the fourth quarter gave Lincoln a 47-37 lead at the 2:30 mark and time and patience was running out for the Irish.

Lincoln Head Coach Taylor Richmond gets her team to focus in the final minutes of Monday night's game versus the Irish.

Lincoln would hit 5-of-7 from the free throw line down the stretch and slam the door on Peoria Notre Dame.

The final score was 52-44 with Kaelyn Froebe leading the way with 20 points and Leah Schneider solidly contributing 18 points.

Peoria Notre Dame guard Kaitlyn Osmulski led all scorers with 22 points. Lexi Snyder reached double figures with 13 points for the Irish.

The Lincoln Varsity now has a record of 14-7 on the season.

Lincoln will resume play in the Galesburg Martin Luther King Tournament on Saturday. Lincoln will play Bloomington at 10:30 a.m. and Riverdale at 3 p.m. Both games will be played in Galesburg on Saturday.

Varsity scores by quarter:

Lincoln 17 21 38 52
PND 5 16 26 44

Lincoln (52)

Froebe 20
Schneider 18
K. Lolling 8
M. Lolling 5
Konczyk 1

PND (44)

Osmulski 22
Snyder 13
Taylor 3
Vallianatos 3
Schuler 3

JV game

The Lincoln JV team won a thrilling game over Peoria Notre Dame 50-47.

Lincoln led the back and forth affair 27-21 at the half but the Irish jumped out to a 39-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Lincoln got eight fourth quarter points from Cadence Presswood and a combined effort of nine fourth quarter points from Jenifer Porlas and Madelyn Koehler to walk away with the 50-47 victory.

Koehler hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds to break the tie game and give Lincoln the win.

Madelyn Koehler led the JV with 18 points Monday night as Lincoln knocked off Peoria Notre Dame 50-47.

Koehler’s 18 points led Lincoln while Porlas poured in 17 points. Presswood hit double digits with 10 points for Lincoln.

The Lady Railers JV team is now 8-3 on the season.

JV scores by quarter:

Lincoln 9 27 33 50
PND 11 21 39 47

Lincoln JV (50)

Koehler 18
Porlas 17
Presswood 10
Davis 4
Antoine 1

PND JV (47)

McCombs 24
Tomlins 8
Peterson 5
Rashid 5
Johnson 3
Sanders 2

[Teena Lowery]