Couple years in the making, Lincoln girls hoops wins regional title
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LINCOLN — Lincoln senior guard Lily Holmes started the morning with a text message to her stepdad and coach, Cory Farmer.
Farmer’s 41st birthday just happened to coincide with their Class 3A girls basketball regional final against Mount Zion on Thursday, Feb. 19 at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium.
“I was like, ‘Happy birthday, time to win a regional,’” McCloud said. “He’s like, ‘It sounds like a plan.’”
The No. 3-seeded Railsplitters ultimately bestowed this first-year coach a 50-39 victory for their first regional title since the exhilarating run to the 2024 state title that included Ms. Basketball of Illinois, Kloe Froebe.
Lincoln (24-8) rolls into the Normal West Sectional semifinals on an eight-game winning streak against No. 5 Bloomington (11-18) on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. The Purple Raiders upset No. 1 seed Normal West 44-39 in their home regional final.
The Railers previously dropped to Mount Zion 50-47 in overtime on Jan. 20. The bitter memory of missing the game-tying 3 has faded far from senior guard Mia Clark’s mind.
“This season has been really fun,” Clark said. “We’ve been winning some games in a row and it’s really brought up our confidence.”
Mount Zion indeed blanketed Clark, but the rest of the lineup came through in a pinch.
Seniors Lily Holmes and Grace Schneider each provided 12 points, while Clark had 10. Holmes’ younger sister, freshman Paisley, summoned nearly all of her eight points in the fourth quarter.
Lincoln stretched the lead 37-28 early in the fourth quarter after Lily’s go-ahead basket midway through the third.
“I think we definitely came out with a mentality that this could be our last game and we need to leave it all out there,” Lily said. “And us four seniors have played together since second grade, so we definitely did not want it to be the end. I think our defense picked up and we were more aggressive.”
Lincoln’s mettlesome full-court press generated 21 turnovers. Gabby Wisher led Mount Zion with 14 points.
“They kind of face-guarded Mia there and kind of took her out of the game,” Farmer said. “Everybody else stepped up. It’s kind of what we had last game. That’s why we’re a team. Those four seniors have played together since second grade and the other kids stepped up tonight.”
Schneider essentially dribbled out the final minutes without a blip.
“I kind of just had something cover over me,” Schneider said. “I really wanted the ball and I just wanted to waste as much time. I just really wanted to keep the ball as much as I could and get to the free throw line. We played as a team. We put it together. We knew it was our last game on our home court either way, so we just wanted to give everything we had.”
According to McCloud, this senior chemistry on the court extends as far back as biddy ball at West Lincoln-Broadwell — Farmer present virtually every step of the way.
Schneider and McCloud will continue basketball at Lewis and Clark Community College together, while Clark will play at Parkland College.
McCloud said it was a fulfilling moment, but there’s still more to achieve.
“It’s just a wonderful feeling, he is like a dad to all of us,” McCloud said. “He is my dad, but all of them will say he feels like a dad to them, too.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Lincoln girls basketball celebrates regional title over Mount Zion
