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[February 03, 2025]
There is something special about a Saturday afternoon game at
Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium. Maybe it’s the presence and enthusiasm of
the future Lady Railers in attendance or maybe it’s the addition of
the extended family members who make the trip to Lincoln to watch
their favorite players. Or maybe it’s Coach Taylor Rohrer’s birthday
and extra special because her parents were in attendance. Whatever
the case, it’s always a good day to be on or around the basketball
court.
To make things sweeter, the Lady Railers kicked off February with a
63-31 win over the Champaign High School Maroons. And it really was
Coach Rohrer’s birthday.
Once again, great defense, great ball movement and great shooting
put Lincoln on top early. A running clock in the fourth quarter was
a sweet reward for their hard work and nice birthday treat for the
coach. Finally, a trio of Lady Railers in double-figures was icing
on the cake.
Mia Clark led the team with 18 points. Clark started the game on
fire, dropping 13 first-quarter points. She’s been a force to be
reckoned with lately.
Makinley Knapp had 12 points and she is just doing everything right
at both ends of the court these days.
Piper Whiteman tallied 11 points and she had the entire cheering
section, 10 and under, that brought an unmatched energy.
First quarter
Champaign was pretty much spotted with a 3-1 lead but their hopes of
a win would soon be diminished. Clark stole the lead with her first
three of the game and after just one more lead change where the
Maroons jumped on top 6-4, the visitors did not have a chance at a
victory. Lincoln began to pour on the offense. Whiteman tied the
game on a baseline drive and then Clark added another three to put
the Lady Railers in the lead for good. And then Lincoln finally
executed a perfect inbounds play where Clark collected the pass in
the lane and put up a perfect bank shot for the score. Everything
was coming up roses for the Lady Railers early. With a minute and a
half left in the quarter, Knapp was into the scorebook with a
bucket. The lead was 13-6 at this point. Following a timeout by
Champaign, the Lady Railers defense continued to hound the Maroons
and in return create the kind of offense Lincoln fans love. Clark
took advantage and not only sank another three-pointer but she ran
away with the ball for a layup with 22.3 seconds left. That looked
to be the end of the scoring until Lincoln got the ball back. Just
in the nick of time it ended up in the hands of Lily Holmes. She
tossed up a shot at the buzzer and low and behold that ball bounced
and bounced and dropped through the net. Two more points for Lincoln
and the first quarter ended with a 20-6 lead.
Second quarter
Clark pretty much emerged from the huddle ready to shoot the ball.
But honestly, it took nearly two minutes for Lincoln to score. When
they did score, it was indeed Clark with the three. When Clark was
not scoring she was doing her best to find her teammates for an open
shot. Great ball movement by the entire team really, but it was
Clark with the last touch of the ball before Whiteman popped out of
the lane for a short jumper. Credit Clark with the nice assist.
That’s a 25-6 Lincoln lead now. The Lady Railers had come a long way
since the 6-4 deficit and the crowd from Lincoln was loving it. The
Maroons finally got a basket at the 3:25 mark and that would be
their one and only of the quarter. Mesa McCloud added a layup and
Whiteman added a three for Lincoln, bringing the halftime score to
30-9.
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Third quarter
Clark is going to score the first bucket of this quarter, with
Whiteman returning the favor with the nice assist. Then it was
Knapp’s turn to get some points. Her teammates kept feeding her in
the paint and she tallied eight quick points. By the time Knapp was
done the lead was 42-12. Holmes and Whiteman added their own field
goals to keep the Maroons beyond that 30-point margin. When the
quarter closed Lincoln was up 49-18. Next up: a running clock.
Fourth quarter
Time to end the game quickly so fans can go eat and come back for
the boys game. The starters played a couple minutes in the fourth
quarter, with McCloud, Knapp and Grace Schneider scoring before
hitting the bench. Emma Hutchison was the first Lincoln sub to score
and she loves to shoot the three. She made one just under the four
minute mark and Lincoln was up by forty points. After Elizabeth Chen
fed the ball to Rebecca Burge in the lane, “Reba” scored and the
little Lincoln Fever ballplayers and their friends started chanting
from the first couple rows of the bleachers, “Yo, baby, yo, baby, yo!
You got to be a Railer or you got to go!” It was kind of a faint
attempt but they just need more practice. They are really young and
they’ve got plenty of time to get that cheer down more vocally and
more confidently. But hey, the score was 61-21 and no matter what,
those young fans were really enjoying their afternoon. Lincoln’s
last basket was knocked down by Ella Schneider, who grinned all the
way back down the court. The Maroons nearly scored more points (8)
in the last minute of the game than they did the entire first half
(9) of the game. The final score was finally settled at 63-31.
Lincoln improved to 14-10 with the win over Champaign.
The Lincoln JV team lost to Champaign 48-43. Grey Gilbert led
Lincoln with 10 points.
Lincoln will host Peoria Notre Dame tonight.
The JV will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. The Varsity will tip-off at 7:30
p.m.
Varsity scoring
Lincoln 63
Clark 18
Knapp 12
Whiteman 11
Holmes 7
McCloud 5
G. Schneider 3
Hutchison 3
E. Schneider 2
Burge 2
Champaign 31
Robinson 5
Parastaran 5
McArthur 5
Williams 4
Bandy 3
Flynn 3
Dean 2
Reid 2
Kloeppel 2
JV scoring
Lincoln 43
Gilbert 10
Eskra 9
Hutchison 8
Chen 7
Hinton 5
Schneider 4
Champaign 48
Reid 9
Curtis 9
Crespo-Munoz 9
Grant 7
Grady-King 4
Kloeppel 4
Bandy 4
Roundtree 2
[Teena Lowery]
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