Lady Railers roll over Rantoul 88-11 in Regionals

Kloe Froebe scores her 2000th career point and records a quadruple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals

 

[February 15, 2023]  Get in, buckle up and hold on for the ride of your life. This is like that family vacation your parents are taking you on and your dad says there’s no stopping until we get there, even if you have to go to the bathroom. The Lady Railers are in the driver’s seat for this one and while admittedly there will be pit stops in Bloomington, Rochester and Taylorville, the final destination will circle back to Normal and what I will always call Redbird Arena. So there will be a chance to go to the bathroom, but make it quick because you don’t wanna miss a second of the action.

The Lady Railers have hit the road for the postseason and their first win in regional action came on Tuesday night with a 88-11 walloping of the Rantoul Lady Eagles.

The fast and the furious Lady Railers were at again, just racing out to a 37-2 first quarter lead this time. Kloe Froebe poured in 20 points in the first quarter and just under the two minute mark she hit a three for her 2000th career point in Lady Railer basketball history. Coach Taylor Rohrer called a timeout to allow Froebe’s teammates to congratulate her in the huddle, but only after Jenna Bowman had stolen the ball from the Lady Eagles and dished it off to Froebe, who poured in a quick two points. The crowd also gave Froebe a nice applause for her latest achievement.

Something else worthy of applause was the sight of Becca Heitzig back in the starting lineup and playing fearlessly. Heitzig poured in six points in the first quarter and was smooth on her stop ’n pops in the lane. Bowman was also putting a thrill in the crowd. She drained two 3s in the first quarter and added a simple two points too. Buckets by Taryn Stoltzenburg and Tori Geriets completed the first quarter scoring for Lincoln. Oh and the Lady Eagles scored their two points on free throws at the 5:23 mark. End of quarter one: 37-2.

Let’s talk about Tori Geriets being a machine in the middle for the Lady Railers in the second quarter. Geriets fought a hard battle against the scrappy Lady Eagles and she poured in eight points to lead Lincoln here. Stoltzenburg and Bowman also tossed in 3s. Piper Whiteman, Makinley Knapp and Mia Clark contributed to the Lady Railers offense in the second quarter as well. Froebe would toss in four more points too and the 64-9 lead at half-time left no worries.

Coach Rohrer put her starters back in for the third quarter and the girls continued to play hard defense and continued to work on their game. A game that was certainly on another level then their opponent’s. By the time the third quarter was over the lead was 86-11 and that score was topped off by a three from Mesa McCloud with :35 seconds left and a putback by Whiteman with 4.8 seconds left.

Fans finally saw a running clock in the fourth quarter. Clark scored the only basket in the quarter and this set the final score at 88-11.

Time to take a pit stop and highlight the performance of Kloe Froebe. Not only did the junior standout score her 2000th point but she recorded a VERY RARE quadruple-double. Froebe had 28 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals. Now that performance is worth a stop at a Buc-ees, Dad!

Froebe incidentally reached this milestone in just 77 games. She missed six games her sophomore year due to injury and remember, her freshman year was a Covid shortened season with just 18 games.

Tori Geriets also turned in a terrific performance, scoring 17 points while confidently playing in the paint and taking the ball to the hoop.
 

And how about that Jenna Bowman? She’s finding her groove again from beyond the arc and just in time. The junior contributed 13 points against Rantoul.

The Lady Railers are now 31-0 on the season. Now that’s a happy Valentine’s Day!

Lincoln advances to the Class 3A regional championship this Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The Lady Railers will play the Champaign Central Maroons at Bloomington High School.

Scoring

Lincoln 88
Froebe 28
Geriets 17
Bowman13
Stoltzenburg 8
Heitzig 8
Clark 5
Whiteman 4
McCloud 3
Knapp 2

Rantoul 11
Poke 4
Betancourt 3
Jackson-Roper 2
Roseman 2

[Teena Lowery]