Lady Railers twirl Tornadoes towards 57-45 loss

 

[February 01, 2025]  Talk about a whirlwind ballgame! Friday night at Roy S. Anderson featured a terrific game between the Lincoln Lady Railers and the Taylorville Tornadoes.

Both teams shot the ball extremely well and played outstanding defense. Lincoln trailed by two points at the half but our girls were able to tie the Tornadoes at the end of the third quarter. Grace Schneider hit a three at the buzzer for the tie and that fueled Lincoln to start the fourth quarter on fire. In a matter of one minute and forty-two seconds Lincoln fired off eleven unanswered points and went on to win 57-45.

The Lincoln crowd was into the game from the tip-off and they did not go home disappointed. It was another exceptional effort by the Lady Railers, who improved their record to 13-10.

Mia Clark led a trio of Lincoln players in double-figures. Clark was clutch all night long, pouring in 23 points.

Mesa McCloud was outstanding with four 3s and a free throw for 13 points.

Lily Joy Holmes. Talk about a joy to watch this incredibly athletic young woman on the court. Holmes was not afraid to take the ball into the “Land of the Giants” and she had 12 points to show for her hard work.

The Tornadoes had their own trio of scorers who have been dominating all season long. In fact, Kyleigh Heimsness, Addison Tarr and Mazie Fleming are seniors who each reached 1,000 career points recently. Pretty amazing! But on Friday night, only Tarr reached double-digits with 20 points. Heimsness and Fleming were each held to eight points.

The Tornadoes fell to 12-9 with the loss to Lincoln.

First quarter
Lincoln was obviously undersized from the jump ball, with 6’4 senior Mazie Fleming winning the tip over 5’9 Makinley Knapp. In fact, to prove what Lincoln was up against, the Tornadoes started with this height: 6’4, 6’0, 5’10, 5’10 and 5’8. Lincoln retaliated with: 5’9, 5’9, 5’8, 5’6 and 5’4. Throw in 5’7 Lily Holmes and we’ve got ourselves an interesting night.

Kyleigh Heimsness, who recently signed with Millikin University, dropped in a three to start the scoring and Taylorville had the first lead. After Piper Whiteman scored off an offensive rebound for Lincoln, the Tornadoes were barreling down the court. Mazie Fleming and Addison Tarr, who is 6’0, put the Tornadoes up 7-2 and it was evident early this trio was going to be a handful. Lincoln has a core of juniors that are a handful too. Mia Clark was the first Lincoln junior to bring the Lady Railers back to an even score. She hit a baseline jumper at the 5:28 mark and then nailed a three about a minute later. After the Tornadoes jumped in front 9-7, Mesa McCloud rattled her first three home at the 3:30 mark and the lead was back in Lincoln’s lap. Tarr and Heimsness then hit back-to-back 3s and Taylorville was barely missing a shot with the score 15-10. Lily Holmes added a free throw with 19.0 seconds to go in the quarter and Lincoln would have to settle for a little 15-11 deficit.

Second quarter
Holmes got a chance to sink a free throw early in the second quarter, but then it was Tarr with the catch and shoot three and Lincoln was down 18-12. Clark decided she could match Tarr and even go one better. Clark hit a three at the 6:36 mark and then again with 5:56 on the clock. Bazinga! It’s an 18-18 ballgame. McCloud broke the tie with a three and Lincoln was proving they could shoot the ball just as well. Clark also took the pass from Holmes on the fast break and scored a quick bucket to complete an 11-0 run on the Tornadoes. Two baskets later the 23-18 Lincoln lead disappeared into a tie. After a bank shot in the lane by Fleming the Tornadoes were on top 25-23. Makinley Knapp managed to squeeze in a basket to tie the game but then it was Tarr breaking that tie. With Lincoln only able to finish the quarter with a couple free throws, the Tornadoes went ahead 29-27 at the half.

Third quarter
Clark started the third quarter with an in and out three. Tough luck there. Meanwhile the “Land of the Giants” made getting buckets in the lane look easy. Two minutes into the quarter the Tornadoes had a five-point lead. Lincoln’s mentality was to not back down and with Clark driving the lane and drawing the foul, she was able to capitalize at the free throw line. Then Holmes took it upon herself to shoot a short jumper over the 6’4 Fleming. After that ball fell through the net, Lincoln was only down by a point. In Lincoln’s next possession McCloud rattled a three in and out of the rim and doggone it, here we go again. Tough break. But hey, look who’s gonna grab the rebound! Holmes snags the ball and in the midst of much chaos she tosses it back up and in for the 34-33 lead. Holmes will stretch that lead on a drive that saw her challenge 5’10 and 6’0. Nice job, Lily Joy!

One more time Lincoln’s 36-33 lead is going to dissipate rather quickly. Tarr was going to be the hero with back-to-back 3s, boosting Taylorville on top 39-36. But wait, Lincoln has just enough time on the final inbounds play of the quarter to do something special. The Lady Railers had already been called for five seconds earlier in the game on the inbounds and coaches Rohrer and Farmer were going to spin themselves into the gym floor if that happened again. Well with 3.1 seconds on the clock McCloud was able to toss the ball like a hot potato into the hands of Grace Schneider and Schneider launched that ball, left-handed towards the rim, with 5’10 lunging at her. The ball barely rattled the rim and it sure made the net dance. The Lady Railers glided off the floor with another tie score. This time it was 39-39.

Fourth quarter
Eight minutes left to decide the ballgame! But it only took Lincoln a minute and forty-two seconds to rattle off eleven points and secure a lead good enough to take ‘em all the way to victory. After Clark went up against Fleming in the lane twelve seconds into the fourth quarter, Lincoln’s 5’9 leading scorer made the bucket, drew the foul, made the free throw and she put the Lady Railers up for good in the game. Not to say that the rest of the quarter wouldn’t be a little nerve-wracking but Lincoln was in control. Clark’s three-point play gave Lincoln a 42-39 advantage. After a basket by Heimsness, the Lady Railers really slammed the door on the Tornadoes. It was McCloud’s three that lit up the crowd and started this 11-0 run at the 7:02 mark. Holmes followed with another basket in the lane and for every Taylorville miss, the Lady Railers sank a basket. McCloud hit another three with 5:49 on the clock. After another Taylorville miss and Lincoln rebound, Clark trotted to the corner by her teammates on the bench and she hit a three with 5:20 showing on the clock. Better yet, the Lady Railers were up 53-41. And then Taylorville missed another basket. They were ice cold in the fourth quarter and Lincoln was red hot. Finally Fleming broke the ice with a basket around the four minute mark but then their cold streak started over and lasted until the final seconds of the game. Meanwhile, Lincoln was sent to the free throw line multiple times and finished the scoring there. With Whiteman, Clark and Schneider each sinking shots from the charity stripe, the Lady Railers settled the score at 57-45 and even before the final buzzer sounded, the little girls cheering section that included members of the traveling basketball team called the Lincoln Fever, started the chant, “Warm the bus up!”

Great team win, girls!

Catch the girls back in action today at home as they host Champaign Central. The JV game will start at 1:00 p.m. and the Varsity will tip-off at 2:30 p.m.

Varsity scoring
Lincoln 57
Clark 23
McCloud 13
Holmes 12
Schneider 4
Whiteman 3
Knapp 2

Taylorville 45
Tarr 20
Heimsness 8
Fleming 8
Wernz 4
Rogers 3
Champley 2

JV scoring
Lincoln 30
Hutchison 9
Gilbert 7
Eskra 6
Hinton 4
Chen 2
Schneider 2

Taylorville 58
Siempelkamp 13
Thomas 10
DeMichael 8
Wernz 6
Wayman 6
Kietzman 5
Durbin 4
Suslee 3
Tarr 2
Heberling 1

[Teena Lowery]