High School Girls Basketball
Lady Railers melt the Iron 67-29
Team improves to 20-0 with Froebe matching the Iron with 29 points

 

[January 10, 2024] 

Night in and night out, Kloe Froebe consistently shows fans why she is one of the best basketball players on the planet. She just does it so quietly too. Like on Tuesday night versus the no. 4 ranked Class 4A Normal Community Lady Iron when she recorded 29 points, 8 assists, 7 steals and 7 rebounds. Froebe left the game with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and as she sat down on the bench with her best friends, she flashed a smile and looked like she could still go ten rounds with Mike Tyson if needed.

It’s unclear what Normal’s game plan was for the evening, other than try to run up and down the floor quickly. But against this Lady Railer team, if you show them you can run, they will show you they can run faster! And frankly, Lincoln was hyped for the challenge of playing against another state-ranked team. After the 32 minutes was over, it was a complete dismantling of a really good team with a lot of height advantage over Lincoln. And that team has 18 wins on the season. They are pretty solid. But on their home court versus Lincoln, they really did melt.

Lincoln’s press was spectacular in the first half and if they didn’t force a turnover at half court, then they created enough havoc by the basket for the Iron to simply throw the ball away anyway. Normal Community looked anything but normal in their game and that’s just what Lincoln has the ability to do. The Lady Railers took the Iron out of their game within the first minute. Lincoln was even up by 30 points at half in this highly-anticipated matchup. No one really saw that coming by looking at the two teams ahead of time on paper.

But winning in quick fashion - it’s just what these Lady Railers do!

First Quarter

Lincoln won the tip and missed their first shot opportunity but after the Iron missed their shot at the other end, it was time for Kloe Froebe to simply be Kloe Froebe. She began with a three at the 7:22 mark and after a quick steal by her partner in crime, Becca Heitzig, she had a layup to give Lincoln a 5-0 lead. Ali Ince scored the first basket for Normal at the 6:42 mark to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Ince, by the way, is an outstanding runner and she will be an Oregon Duck next Fall. Twelve seconds later Heitzig, Lincoln’s own outstanding runner who will be an Iowa State Hurricane in the Fall, hit a jumper and extended the lead to 7-2. Barely a handful of seconds later, Olivia Corson’s basket kept the Normal fans in a frenzy with the score 7-4. Twelve more seconds later Taryn Stoltzenburg’s three stretched the lead to 10-4. At the four minute mark Froebe took the ball baseline to the basket and with the score quickly 12-4 the Normal coach called a timeout and told his team, “You are doing nothing like we practiced.” Frustration for sure. That’s another cause and effect that the Lady Railers have perfected.

That brief timeout just fueled Lincoln into a fast break and with Stoltzenburg getting credit for the bucket, the lead was now 14-4. Normal managed to sneak in a couple baskets to trim the lead, but Froebe answered back with four points and in the blink of an eye the lead was 18-8. Now check out these next sequences. Froebe is going to bring the ball up the court and find Piper Whiteman set up in the corner. Ready, aim and fire ~ Whiteman with the three! The Iron take the ball to their end and they score, too. Then with twenty seconds left in the quarter, Froebe again brings the ball up the court and as her teammates shuffle around, Froebe and Heitzig make a connection and one quick hard bounce pass near the free throw line lands into the hands of Heitzig and she managed to hit the backboard perfectly and kept her head towards the basket as the ball fell through the net. Two seconds later the buzzer sounded and ten girls trotted off the court, with the five from Lincoln up 23-10. Shoot Froebe even outscored the Iron by herself, having tallied 11 first quarter points.

Second Quarter

Froebe, who even though she misses a shot now and then, never gives up and more often than not, she gets her own rebound and puts it back up. That is exactly what she did to put Lincoln up 25-10 to start the second quarter. Froebe would lead Lincoln with ten points in the quarter and with Whiteman scoring nine points, including two key 3s, the Lady Railers were running all around and all over the Iron. Meanwhile, Normal managed just two field goals in the quarter. After Whiteman’s first three in the quarter made the score 30-12, the Iron scored for the final time in the half near the four minute mark. For the next four minutes it was Lincoln on a 14-0 run. Whiteman drained another three during this run and Froebe also added a three from the corner. Grace Schneider tossed in two points off the bench and even though Normal was rumored to have a deep bench, it was nothing compared to Taylor Rohrer’s bench. And for a grand finale of the first half, it was Froebe on the steal at half court with eight seconds left and as she went in for the layup there was contact and a foul was called as the ball dropped through the net. She made the ‘and one’ and that would be it for the first half action. Insanely the score was 44-14 at the half.

Third Quarter

The third quarter was more of Froebe and her friends showing the Iron how it’s done. Froebe began with a steal under the basket, which was more like a “hey, I’ll take that” as she snatched the ball from her opponent’s hands and tossed it gently up for two points. When Froebe wasn’t scoring she was undoubtedly getting her teammates the ball. She found Jenna Bowman open for a three and that made the score 49-19. The goal at this point was to just stay above that 30-point spread. Heitzig added to the excitement by scoring eight points in the quarter and when it was all said and done after these eight minutes, Lincoln was indeed ready for a running clock. The score at the end of three quarters was 61-25, if you can believe it!

Fourth Quarter

Run, ladies, run! Froebe and Makinley Knapp tossed in buckets early in the fourth quarter and the lead was a remarkable 40 points, 65-25 the score. Absolutely insane! This had to be a shock for Normal. In fact, the Iron only scored a free throw and a three in the fourth quarter. Schneider’s drive to the basket resulted in the last points of the game and little ole’ Lincoln showed the big girls how to win. So much for a close game. Lincoln obliterates Normal Community 67-29.

Kloe Froebe leads all scorers with 29 points and has just another all-around solid and spectacular performance on the court.

Becca Heitzig rose to the occasion and scored 12 points.

Piper Whiteman came off the bench to score 12 points.

Each and every Lady Railer that stepped on the court also played amazing defense. It’s just what these girls do.

The Lady Railers are now 20-0 on the season.

Normal Community falls to 18-2.

The JV team also put on a show for the Normal Community crowd, defeating the Iron 70-34. How about the JV teams even scoring more than the Varsity? Next season looks good already for Lincoln!

Makinley Knapp led Lincoln with 19 points.

Ceana Adams tossed in 13 points.

Piper Whiteman and Mia Clark each scored 10 points.

The Lincoln JV team is 14-0 on the season.

Lincoln will host Springfield Lanphier on Saturday with the JV starting at 1:00 p.m. and the Varsity starting at 2:30 p.m.

Of course, a lot depends on the upcoming weather, but if it’s safe to get around, Roy S. Anderson is just a short drive from anywhere in Lincoln. It’ll be warm and cozy in the gym and the popcorn is really good. See ya there!

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 67

Froebe 29
Heitzig 12
Whiteman 12
Stoltzenburg 5
Schneider 4
Bowman 3
Knapp 2

Normal Community 29

Ince 9
Lester 6
Corson 6
Reynolds 4
Rawlings 3
Barlow 1

JV scoring

Lincoln 70

Knapp 19
Adams 13
Clark 10
Whiteman 10
McCloud 8
Holmes 6
Schneider 2
Perkins 2

Normal Community 34

Turner 9
Wilde 5
Roser 5
Smith 5
Welborn 4
Niekamp 2
Taylor 2
Michels 1
Witzig 1

[Teena Lowery]