High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers defeat Pleasant Plains 63-39
Varsity team improves to 19-0 on the season
 

[January 06, 2023]

The Lady Railers are starting the second half of the season facing a little adversity as key starter Becca Heitzig is out of the lineup with a fracture in her hand. Heitzig suffered the injury on December 28, 2022 in a game versus Byron in the Dixon-KSB Holiday Classic. Heitzig was on an offensive hot streak at the time and had been scoring 10.4 points per game. The state champion on the track is also a defensive threat so losing her is a huge blow to the team. It is now time to see just how deep this 2022-23 Lady Railers team is.

On Thursday night the team visited Pleasant Plains and after a significant amount of time off, the ladies found themselves in an unfamiliar position: down 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.

The only Lincoln field goal of the quarter was a three from Taryn Stoltzenburg. The rest of the scoring was done at the free throw line. Kloe Froebe, Piper Whiteman and Mia Clark went a combined 7-for-8 from the charity stripe and with Megan Derrick leading the Cardinals offense, Pleasant Plains was on top 11-10.

The Lady Railers and the Cardinals continued to make this one a nail biter in the second quarter, trading baskets until eventually Lincoln held the 28-25 lead at the half.

Lincoln broke the game open in the third quarter by pouring in 20 points and holding the Cardinals to just six points scored on their home court. Froebe led the offense with eight points while Taryn Stoltzenburg and Jenna Bowman each tossed in five points. Whiteman added a bucket as well and at the end of three quarters of play Lincoln was settling in with a 48-31 lead.

Froebe added nine more points to lead Lincoln in the fourth quarter. Lincoln shows their resilience and goes on to win by a final score of 63-39.

Three Lady Railers finished the game in double-figures. Kloe Froebe led all scorers with 29 points. Jenna Bowman continues to post double-digits and on this night she scored 12 points. Taryn Stoltzenburg had a great night with 10 points, which included two 3s.

Lincoln improved to 19-0 on the season.

The Lady Railers will host Mahomet-Seymour on Saturday afternoon. The JV game will start at 1 p.m. The Varsity game will start at 2:30 p.m.

In the JV contest, the Lady Railers came from behind to defeat Pleasant Plains 51-46.

The Lincoln JV team found themselves down 19-9 after the first quarter. The Lady Railers even trailed 28-26 at the half.

Two 3s from Mia Clark in the third quarter ignited the Lady Railers offense. Five points from Lily Holmes and a two from Makinley Knapp catapulted the Lady Railers into the lead for good. Lincoln’s lead was 40-37 at the end of the third quarter.

Knapp guided the offense in the fourth quarter with seven points. The Lady Railers JV team remains undefeated with a 51-46 win over the Cardinals.

Three Lady Railers paced the team with double-digit scoring. Mia Clark led the team with 16 points. Makinley Knapp tossed in 13 points. Lily Holmes poured in 11 points.

The JV team improves to 10-0 on the season.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 63

Froebe 29
Bowman 12
Stoltzenburg 10
Whiteman 8
Geriets 2
Clark 2

Pleasant Plains 39

Derrick 9
Fraase 8
Hadley 6
Smith 5
Redman 3
Burke 2
Leach 2
Hiltabrand 2
Morley 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 51

Clark 16
Knapp 13
Holmes 11
Adams 7
Schneider 4

Pleasant Plains 46

Sebatka 11
Weber 10
Burke 8
Leach 7
Lynch 5
Kimes 5

[Teena Lowery]