Friday night - Heitzig returns to the court as Lady Railers win again
Team improves to 27-0

[February 06, 2023] She’s back! Becca Heitzig made her 2023 debut on the basketball court Friday night and it was spectacular. How appropriate for the day that had been coined “Jordan Day” worldwide by ESPN. Heitzig actually entered the game at 2:31 in the first quarter on this special day (2/3/23) and in a matter of twelve seconds she was in the scorebook with her signature move, dribbling in from the free throw line a step or two and taking a shot. The junior looked so happy as the ball fell through the net without even touching the rim.

What a sweet surprise to see Heitzig not only back on the court doing what she loves, but to also see her pick the basketball up without missing a beat.

Heitzig was last in the lineup at the Dixon-KSB Holiday Classic in December. She suffered an injury to her hand at the end of the game with Byron on December 28, 2022. Heitzig scored 13 points that night and she was averaging 10.4 points per game at the time of the injury. The setback was a devastating situation on many levels, but without a doubt the comeback will be even greater.

“I’ve been feeling good in the practices so my parents and I thought it was a good idea to start weaning myself into the games a little bit,” explained Heitzig. “I want to be ready when the postseason comes around, like playing-wise with the team and the different flow coming back together. It came around kind of quickly. It was exciting.”

It happened so suddenly, friends didn’t even have time to make t-shirts or banners to welcome her back. Ya’ll remember the “I’m back.” from March 18, 1995, right?!

And just like Michael Jordan, Heitzig wasted no time making an impact in the game. Just seconds into the action Friday night, Heitzig scored and the gym erupted. Everyone was happy to see no.4 on the court.

“That must’ve been God with me or something, I don’t know,” laughed Heitzig of the first basket. “Everyone was cheering and I was just smiling because I was not expecting that. They left me open so I was like ‘okay.’”

Each and every time Heitzig entered the game Friday night it heightened the level of energy in the gym.

“The crowd has been great lately and just hearing the alumni doing cheers was awesome and we had a great student section tonight,” added Heitzig. “It’s just cool seeing Lincoln come together for the girls.”



Railer Nation brought their A game Friday night for the girls! Photo courtesy of Tim McDougall

The crowd was great. Railer Nation, decked in black, cheered all night long. And the former Lady Railers, led by Jan Bowers again, sat in the corner spot on the bleachers, all decked out in new sweatshirts by Stacey Sparks and they even broke out into cheers in the second half. School spirit runs deep at Lincoln Community High School, no matter what decade you hail from.

Heitzig was one of those spectators for just over a month as she found a spot on the bench next to coach Taylor Rohrer and assistant coach Cory Farmer. As for her time recovering from the injury and watching her team from the bench, Heitzig offered up what she observed from that view.

“As a viewer, I was like, ‘Wow, these girls are awesome,’ said Heitzig. “When I am playing, I just feel in the moment. But just watching my whole team play, I am like ‘Wow, they’re pretty good.’ And they’ve all stepped up and that just shows what kind of a team we are. They’ve all been so supportive of me and I am just grateful for that.”

Always positive, that’s our Becca.

Now it’s time to highlight the Lady Railers 78-27 victory over Effingham on Friday night at Roy S. Anderson.

Lincoln was quick to take a 6-0 lead to start the game over their Apollo Conference opponents, the Effingham Flaming Hearts. After a three by Taryn Stoltzenburg at the 4:05 mark, the Lady Railers were in front 9-2. Piper Whiteman extended the lead to 11-2 with her jump shot. With the clock nearing three minutes, Froebe lobbed the ball into Tori Geriets under the basket and for a split-second it looked like “TG” might levitate and dunk it but instead she just tossed it in from ground level for two points, 13-2 the Lincoln lead.

Coming up next: Becca time!

Heitzig entered the game and was quick to score in the lane for Lincoln. Railer Nation erupted as did the entire crowd. Folks have been waiting patiently for this moment. With the score now 15-2 the Flaming Hearts were beginning to get really annoyed with the Lincoln defense. After failing to even get a chance to look at the basket during possession after possession, one Effingham player finally looked over at the coach with a frustrated look that read, “What are we supposed to do?” With 27.4 seconds on the clock, the Flaming Hearts finally got another basket. But as the quarter came to a close, Froebe’s four points at the end had allowed Lincoln to lead 19-4.

The Lady Railers poured on the offense in the second quarter. Geriets started off with a quick two points and Froebe was holding the hot hand from the top and she drained a three for a 24-4 lead. Froebe would rattle off Lincoln’s next seven points and extend the lead to 31-4. The Flaming Hearts managed a couple baskets in the middle of the quarter, but then it was Jenna Bowman draining her second three of the game and the lead was still a respectable 34-8. With two minutes approaching, fans got to see what they’ve been waiting for. It was Froebe with the pass ahead into Heitzig, who kissed the ball off the backboard for two points. These two have a lot of experience running this play.

With 1:21 on the clock, it was Bowman with yet another three, and talk about a girl who just can quietly take away any heartbeat the Flaming Hearts may have left. Bowman is smooth and with lots of siblings in the stands, she shines as the middle child.

Froebe tossed in one more shot with 11.7 seconds left and the Lady Railers held a 41-8 halftime lead.

Who has the biggest smile since the return of Becca Heitzig?! It was great having no. 4 back in the lineup Friday night versus Effingham.

The Lady Railers apparently sharpened the knives at halftime for the dagger they were about to put into the Flaming Hearts. Froebe and Bowman each connected for 3s within the first minute. After a quick steal and layup at the 6:00 mark by Froebe, the Lady Railers lead was 49-8. Twenty seconds later Froebe increased it to 51-8. Enter Makinley Knapp into the game and she was on board with a two and Lincoln was breaking the hearts of Effingham with a 53-8 lead. The Flaming Hearts would finally reach double-digits in scoring at the 4:42 mark.

But the Lady Railers were far from finished on this night. With the big lead, the starters knew their time on the court was dwindling. The reunited trio of Froebe, Heitzig and Bowman had to act fast. A three by Froebe made the score 58-10. Then it was Froebe with the assist to Heitzig. Finally before their exit, it was Heitzig with the pass up ahead to Froebe, who then in turn dished it off to Bowman for two. This is a play the trio has been running for better than a decade now. When it’s all said and done, this trio will be greater than that of Brady, Gronkowski and Edelman.

Now is a perfect time to plug that movie, “80 for Brady '' as if it doesn’t already have enough publicity because of its stellar cast and Tom Brady himself is the executive producer. But it does raise a question, how did Kari Froebe not get invited to the red carpet premiere?! Or maybe she did and she just opted to skip it because she knew it would interfere with Lady Railer basketball. The early reviews on the movie, by the way, say it is FANTASTIC!

Just like these Lady Railers, who exited without a red carpet but to much applause and a 62-14 lead at the end of their night shift, which occurred somewhere around the two minute mark. Knapp scored the last basket for Lincoln in the third quarter and the quarter ended with the Lady Railers up 64-24.

The fourth quarter saw the starters on the bench, simply relaxing while smiling and sharing laughs. They had put in the work and now it was time for the bench to shine in front of the large Friday night crowd. The bench, by the way, maybe hasn’t been given enough credit, so here it comes. Night after night, these girls play a full JV game and dominate the competition there, and then they get tossed into a Varsity game late night in and night out where they continue to do battle. That Lincoln bench is deep and consistent this season and without a doubt a huge reason why the starters are so good. They have to battle in practice against each other and prepare for these games every single day. They are MVP’s in their own right.

Highlighting the action in Friday night’s fourth quarter were Lily Holmes and Mia Clark. Holmes launched not one but two 3s and they both sailed through the net. The first one was right in front of Railer Nation and boy did they love seeing the freshman do that. Holmes would also make a nice move in the lane through traffic to sink another shot. She quickly scored eight points in her short time on the court. Meanwhile, Clark was clutch from the free throw line, going 4-for-4. Ceana Adams completed the Lady Railers scoring and the game ended with Lincoln earning another Apollo Conference win, 78-27 the final score.

Kloe Froebe led all scored with 31 points. Heck, she even outscored the opponent again. She’s a repeat offender in that category.

Jenna Bowman matched her number with 14 points scored.

The Lady Railers are now 27-0 and 10-0 in the Apollo Conference.

With the win it looks like the ladies will have that Apollo Conference championship tied up. That’s a first since the 1999 team.

The team has also tied the record for most wins in a season ~ 27.

The JV team also kept their perfect record intact Friday night with a 52-30 win over Effingham.

A trio of Lady Railers hit double-figures here: Mia Clark (17), Makinley Knapp (14) and Lily Holmes (11).

The JV team is 16-0.

Congratulations, Lady Railers!

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 78
Froebe 31
Bowman 14
Holmes 8
Heitzig 6
Geriets 4
Knapp 4
Stoltzenburg 3
Whiteman 2
Schneider 2
Adams 2
Clark 2

Effingham 27
Martin 10
Althoff 4
Niebrugge 3
Donaldson 3
Mapes 2
Allie 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 52
Clark 17
Knapp 14
Holmes 11
McCloud 6
Adams 4

Effingham 30
Martin 10
Moser 6
Donaldson 5
Harvey 4
Hodge 2
Armstrong 2
Hecht 1

[Teena Lowery with photo by Tim McDougall]