LDN - Sports

Lincoln wins marquee matchup with Mattoon 65-54

[January 15, 2022] How about a girls basketball game on a Friday night in a very historic gymnasium featuring two highly-talented state-ranked teams battling it out while the band plays and an enthusiastic student section, made up primarily of boys, cheer non-stop?! And how about turning down the lights and introducing the starting lineups, just like the boys?! That’s gotta be an adrenaline rush, especially with the state-bound LCHS Dance Team firing up the crowd with their usual dance routine, as the starters are announced by the PA announcer, Dave Renfrow.

Welcome to 2022 and Lady Railers basketball!

Lincoln, with a No. 6 ranking in both MaxPreps and the AP Poll, welcomed Mattoon, who is ranked No. 2 in MaxPreps and No. 10 in the AP Poll, to Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium Friday night and the marquee matchup between these two 3A teams was phenomenal. Going into the contest, each team’s losses had come against each other. Mattoon entered the game with one loss to Lincoln. Lincoln entered the game with their two losses coming at the hands of Mattoon.

With Lincoln looking to even the score, so to speak, this meeting between these two teams was sure to be exciting.

As with any marquee matchup, there’s always a focus on certain players. In this case, the attention was on Lincoln’s 5’9 sophomore Kloe Froebe and Mattoon’s 5’10 senior Mallory Ramage. Froebe has reached double-digits in Division I offers and has yet to commit, while Ramage has committed to Loyola University Chicago.

Both ladies showed off their skills Friday night, with the younger Froebe undoubtedly getting the best of Ramage in the first half. Ramage, however, elevated her game in the second half and really tried to get her team the win. Both Froebe and Ramage have an amazing group of teammates and this matchup really was an outstanding basketball game to witness.

So when the lights came back on Friday night and the Lincoln starting five of Taryn Stoltzenburg, Jazmyn Robbins, Becca Heitzig, Kloe Froebe and Reese McCuan took center court, they had a fire in their eyes and not an apparent nervous bone in their bodies. Lincoln’s lineup on this night featured two seniors and three sophomores up against four seniors and one junior from Mattoon.

Let the fun begin!

Froebe’s two quick buckets to start the scoring for Lincoln put the Lady Railers up 4-0. The Green Wave slashed the score in half with a basket from Chloe Pruitt. Taryn Stoltzenburg, who was getting the start in place of her sister, Ryen, who was out due to illness, made the first three of the game and this put Lincoln ahead 7-2. At the 5:50 mark a steal by Froebe and her impressive layup from the left side put Lincoln up 9-2. Froebe’s nice little pull up jumper extended the lead to 11-2 at the 5:09 mark. Froebe stole the ball just ahead of the 3:00 mark and went all the way for what always looks like an easy bucket when it’s in her hands and Lincoln was up 13-4 at this point. Another one of Lincoln’s super sophomores, Jenna Bowman, hit a jump shot at the 2:26 mark and Lincoln was in the lead 15-4. Froebe added another layup with 1:52 showing on the clock and Lincoln’s lead was a respectable 17-6. Another basket by Pruitt and a three from Lily Ghere brought the Green Wave back, 17-11 now the score with under a minute to go in the first quarter.

Froebe would have the last word in the quarter, actually she lets her play do the talking, and in this case it was a quiet little step back and a quick release of the three as the final seconds ticked away. A real silent killer as the ball swished through the net and the buzzer sounded just in time for Railer Nation to erupt. Really the Green Wave had to see that coming. At the end of the first quarter, the Lady Railers were up 20-11, with Froebe pouring in 15 of those points. Mattoon’s Mallory Ramage was held scoreless in that first quarter.

Lincoln kept playing their game in the second quarter and after baskets by Froebe, McCuan and Bowman, the Lady Railers were up 26-13. The Lincoln lead grew to 32-17 around the 2:00 mark. The Green Wave made a little 5-0 run at the Lady Railers to cut the lead back to ten points and that lead would actual remain intact as the halftime scored flashed 34-24 in favor of Lincoln. The Lady Railers defense had quieted Ramage to just two first half points.

Ramage would definitely come alive in the third quarter. She took over and impressively scored 11 points for the Green Wave in the quarter. But Lincoln continued to dominate Mattoon on both offense and defense. One minute it was yet another Lincoln sophomore, Becca Heitzig, stopping and popping from the free throw line. While the next minute it was Froebe driving the lane and then choosing to step back and hit a jumper. Anything to keep the Green Wave off balance. Another little secret weapon of the Lady Railers was Bowman. One minute Bowman is making a nuisance of herself on defense, attacking like a mama bear protecting her cubs. The next minute she’s standing quiet in the corner minding her own business, but once she collects the pass she’s ready to shoot and score. While the Green Wave did pull to within five points with 3:33 showing on that third quarter clock, the calm, cool and collected Lady Railers quickly grew the lead to 45-35 with just under two minutes left in the quarter. Four more points from Froebe as the quarter came to a close kept Lincoln in front by a decent margin, 49-37 the score.

The Friday night Lincoln crowd was loving every minute of the non-stop action.

The fourth quarter got a bit more intense as the Green Wave put forth one final great effort. Lincoln just managed to continue to outplay Mattoon and not get rattled one bit. Both teams were truly giving it their best. McCuan had really stepped up her game the entire night and she tossed in four more key points in the fourth quarter. Her last bucket at the 4:20 mark came on the assist from Froebe and that set the score at 53-43. Heitzig turned in a fantastic performance, too. She dropped in the next four points, just hustling in the lane, to make the score 57-46. But baskets by Ghere and Ramage kept the Green Waves’ hopes alive and with just 1:18 left in the game, the Lincoln lead was 57-51. There was still a chance for the Green Wave. But in the final minute, four trips to the free throw line by Froebe resulted in perfection and as she sank 8-for-8 from the line, Lincoln was on the verge of victory, leading 65-51 as Railer Nation chanted, “I believe that we will win!” One final three from Ramage with 6.0 seconds remaining would be the end of it.

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Coach Taylor Rohrer draws up a play during a fourth quarter timeout versus Mattoon.

The Lady Railers win impressively over their Apollo Conference rivals, the Mattoon Green Wave, by a final score of 65-54.

The win was so impressive by the Lady Railers, that even head coach Taylor Rohrer admitted to being in awe of her team’s performance.

“We worked really hard in practice the last two days on everything that they did to us to get us by thirty points the last time we played each other,” said Rohrer, referencing the 61-31 loss on December 3, 2021 in Mattoon.

“Today the girls came out and they did everything we talked about and they did it to perfection,” said a very proud Rohrer. “They just really took in everything and they played their hearts out. They played as a team. Every girl stepped up and hit shots and played defense and was pulling down boards. It was just a really great team effort and a really great performance by every kid. And the bench was in it. Even the ones who maybe didn’t get off the bench, they were a big reason we won because they were here and they were supporting the girls and cheering for them. Lincoln also has the best student section in the state. They were here and they showed up. That was a huge help for us. It motivated our girls. It’s a big win.”

“I have to credit these kids because we have not had a practice with our entire team since before our Christmas tournament,” said Rohrer, “and so with kids coming in and out, sick and then healthy again, they still took everything in during practice that we taught them. Even when there were only seven kids at practice. That says a lot about them as players and people.”

Lincoln incidentally was playing without some key players. Not only was Ryen Stoltzenburg at home, but so was Imagin Werner and Piper Whiteman.

In fact, Lincoln did not play a JV squad against Mattoon, in order to save girls for the Varsity game. The 6 p.m. game was really a Lincoln freshmen-sophomore game against the Mattoon JV team. Mattoon won that game 51-35.

Lincoln was led in scoring by Kloe Froebe, who poured in a season-high 35 points. Reese McCuan and Jenna Bowman each finished with 10 points.

Mallory Ramage led Mattoon with 22 points.

Reese McCuan, who is a senior leader on the team, really stepped up her game Friday night hitting double-digits in scoring and really battling in the lane against the Green Wave. She was obviously happy with the entire evening inside Roy S. Anderson Friday night. “When the crowd came in, I was so excited and pumped for the game,” said McCuan. “Whenever “Lincoln, Lincoln” started playing, I was in it immediately and it was like, ‘ok, we gotta go, let’s do this.’ The whole running out with the lights out really helped me get ready for the game and throughout the game I felt confident and I felt good. And I haven’t played for three weeks because I had Covid. So it was great to play again. Tonight was awesome and I really enjoyed playing and I am so happy we beat Mattoon.”

Leading scorer Kloe Froebe also felt the energy inside the gymnasium.

“I want to thank Railer Nation for showing up tonight,” said Froebe. “They were amazing. It was an awesome feeling having the student section and the band and everyone here supporting us. Lincoln is a basketball town and they will support both the boys and the girls. It was just awesome to have that experience.”

“I think this team is a very competitive team, so we feed off of that,” said Froebe. “Going into a game, we don’t want to lose. I mean, we’ve got a state cross country runner and we’ve got a bunch of WLB girls who aren’t used to losing. Last year was a bit of a change for us. So we decided we are done losing this year.”

Last year the Lady Railers finished the season 9-9.

“My main focus going into a game is always, ‘I just wanna win this no matter what happens,’ said Froebe. “I just want us to win and play our hardest. I honestly didn’t think our team was that nervous tonight. And it was awesome to feel that. This will definitely help prepare us for a long post season hopefully.”

These young ladies really took their game to another level tonight and with lots of attention on this game, it’s pretty evident other teams outside of the 217 better begin to take notice of Lincoln. It’ll be exciting to see the next state rankings after this big win for Lincoln.

Lincoln improves to 16-2 on the season and 5-1 in the Apollo Conference.

Mattoon falls to 18-2 on the season and 7-1 in the Apollo Conference.