Lady Railers shut down Rockets 53-23 to win Sectional Championship

 

[February 24, 2023]  Bring your pom poms, kids, because we are going back to Taylorville!

The Lady Railers defeated Rochester 53-23 at the RAC on Thursday night to claim the Class 3A Sectional Championship. The next stop on this postseason road trip is Taylorville, hosts of the Super-Sectional.

Kudos to the Lincoln crowd that filled the RAC to the rafters on Thursday night and again, fans arrived early and were eager to cheer on the Lady Railers. The gym was incredibly loud all night long and the energy definitely fueled the girls on the court.

Both teams were fired up for this one and while Lincoln won by 30 points, it really did not seem like such a large margin of victory. The Rockets gave Lincoln a tough battle from start to finish and in typical Lady Railer fashion, our girls kept their composure and just played basketball.

Lincoln’s first basket of the game was scored by Taryn Stoltzenburg, with the assist coming from Kloe Froebe on the fast break. Tori Geriets tossed in the next bucket for Lincoln, pulling down the offensive rebound and taking a step back to toss in a little jumper from the baseline. Then it was Stoltzenburg on the drive to make the score 6-0. The Lincoln fans were on their feet. The Lady Railers would take an 8-2 lead after Froebe’s basket but then the Rockets came back with a three. After Froebe’s free throws made the score 10-5 just under the two minute mark, the Rockets scored two field goals in the remaining minutes and the first quarter score was uncharacteristically close, with Lincoln holding on tight to a 10-9 lead.

Piper Whiteman got the offense going early in the second quarter with her two points and she started a trend. Seven more points quickly followed, with Heitzig, Froebe and Bowman each scoring and running the lead up to 19-9. That’s more like it.

With 3:30 left in the second quarter, Heitzig made the old-fashioned 3-point play and the lead was still a respectable 22-12. One more three from Bowman sent the crowd into a frenzy and settled the halftime score at 25-14.

That incredible Lincoln defense shut down the Rockets in the third quarter, holding them to just one three-point basket. Meanwhile, the Lady Railers just kept the ball moving and aimed towards the basket. From the 6:04 mark til the end of the quarter, Lincoln scored 14 unanswered points and commanded a 41-17 lead. In the midst of all that there were a number of highlights but none greater than the Euro step by Stoltzenburg. It was a fabulous move and let’s just say no. 1, who seems to be so quiet, sure made a lot of noise with her game against Rochester. Stoltzenburg was playing out of her mind and it was FUN to watch her shine.

The starters took the court in the fourth quarter and it was a good thing because they needed that playing time. Stoltzenburg had one more three in her, too. She just had a phenomenal game, not just offensively either. With about a minute left the starters would come out, except for Froebe who was shooting free throws. After she missed the second free throw she hustled back on defense, then stole the ball and proceeded to run back down the court and make a spin move in the lane to score the final two points of the game for Lincoln. With 51.9 seconds left, Froebe would exit the game and upon leaving the court, she broke out into a great big smile. She was greeted with hugs from her happy teammates, who all jumped up and down in jubilation, and even Coach Rohrer made her way down to give Froebe a congratulatory hug. The bench was filled with smiling girls full of laughter, while closely behind them Railer Nation chanted towards the Rochester crowd, “This is our house.” Prior to that cheer, Railer Nation told the Rochester student section, “Thanks for coming.” These kids are definitely entertaining. The former Lady Railers were gathered in the next section over and between the two groups, they kept the crowd engaged all evening long. Great job!

With the crowd getting on their feet, the buzzer sounded and the final score 53-23 flashed on the scoreboard. The ladies were quick to retrieve their championship plaque after going through the line shaking hands with the Rochester players first. Immediately after hoisting the plaque, Railer Nation stormed the court and gathered around the team. Just a bunch of happy kids!

Lots and lots of interviews and photos followed, with LDN’s Lynn Paulus capturing it all.

Kloe Froebe led Lincoln with 18 points and played hard on both ends of the court for just over 31 minutes.

Taryn Stoltzenburg had 13 points and again, she was incredible. She really elevated her game Thursday night.

Jenna Bowman tossed in 11 points and oh by the way, she just needs two more 3s to break the single-season record for 3s scored. She’s got ice in her veins from the corner, folks.

Lincoln coach Taylor Rohrer was looking for three things after the win: the plaque, the net and the game ball. She would find all three and with a smile on her face, she handled interview after interview, as did the Lady Railers. It is so great to see them get the attention they deserve and especially the love from Railer Nation and the rest of the community.

“Railer Nation came out in full force and that always motivates the girls so we are very grateful for people making the trip to Rochester and coming out to support us,” said Rohrer following the win. “You only have one day to prepare for this game and we spent a good two hours yesterday preparing to play them. We knew it would be a tough game. They are a tough team and they are very well coached. I thought my kids came out and handled everything that they threw at us. We came out on top.”

And for that effort, the Lady Railers earned the fifth sectional championship in school history.

In fact, it was Lynn Paulus who noted that exactly seven years ago to the day, the 2016 Lady Railers won the sectional title. That Lady Railers team upset Rochester in the first game of sectionals and then went on to upset St. Thomas More in the sectional final. There was a lot of excitement that season and many of the current Lady Railers were little girls in the stands back then. Now it's their time to generate that level of excitement.

“I am just over the top excited,” said Whiteman of the win. “I am just so happy right now. We’re not finished. We’re still hungry. So we’re gonna celebrate today and go into practice tomorrow because we still have a lot to prepare for.”

Bowman needing two more 3s to break a record also became the talk of the gym in the second half and when approached about the topic, she said, “I’ve known for kind of a long time so it’s been a lot of pressure.”

To which Heitzig busted in with, “I thought they kept it a secret!?”

Anyway, Bowman said she is trying not to think about it so we’ll go with that. Just know that this girl does not cave under any pressure.

Meanwhile, Tori Geriets was holding onto a bouquet of red roses when she said what this night meant to her. “Oh my gosh, so much,” she said, clutching those roses. “I have really good friends. I was levitating tonight. You have no idea.”

Laughter broke out among the girls and eventually Whiteman said, “The crowd, the environment, both sides, I am here for it. Can we talk about how the student section was chanting, “This is our house!” We even had more fans than they did and I know that’s very intimidating for them.”

Froebe, who was actually losing her voice after the game, agreed the atmosphere was loud and oftentimes it was hard to hear Coach Rohrer.

But once Stoltzenburg entered the conversation, the focus was shifted on her and that Euro step. Her teammates obviously delighted in her fake pass as she drove to the basket in the third quarter, completely throwing her defender in another direction, while she shifted quickly to the bucket and scored two points. It was a remarkable move and got a lot of applause from the crowd.

“She’s been doing it in practice,” said Froebe, “and I was like, “It’s about time you do it on the court.”

Stoltzenburg simply said, “I knew my shots weren’t falling in the first half so I knew I had to get to the basket and start inside.”

From all the girls: “We love the crowd and we are so grateful for Railer Nation. We really are.”

Lincoln earned a trip to the Super-Sectional on Monday, February 27, 2023. The Lady Railers (34-0) will play Highland (25-7) at 7:00 p.m. at Taylorville High School.

By the way, Froebe brought up what has been coined as “The Revenge Tour.” Meeting up with Highland is just one more stop on “The Revenge Tour” for Lincoln. You see, Froebe’s older sister, Kaelyn, and her team lost to Highland in the Super-Sectional in 2016. These 2023 Lady Railers have plans to change things.

Get your tickets now because it just might be a sold out show and be prepared to hit the road to Taylorville Monday night!

Scoring

Lincoln 53
Froebe 18
Stoltzenburg 13
Bowman 11
Heitzig 7
Geriets 2
Whiteman 2

Rochester 23
Reed 15
Dixon 4
Offer 2
Farris 2

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Teena Lowery

Teena's Take

The opening line might need a little explanation. And please know it’s all in good fun. I love the Taylorville people.

So back on December 8, 2022 Lincoln played at Taylorville and well there was a little situation that was perhaps blown out of proportion and went viral on 217 Problems, which is like the TMZ of Central Illinois, and it involved pom poms and our Lincoln girls.

Basically, the Taylorville cheerleaders were cheering on the court while the Lady Railers were warming up prior to the game and well, you know our Lady Railers, they were focused before game time and they just kept going about their business. No disrespect intended to the cheerleaders, just our Lady Railers getting ready for the game on their own allotted time.

But these days, everyone videos everything and after the video surfaced of Lincoln warming up with pom poms waving in their faces, well that became news.

Let’s be clear, though, Taylor Swift could’ve been one of the cheerleaders and these girls would not have stopped dribbling, passing or shooting the ball.

That kind of focus has earned them a 34-0 record.