LINCOLN (WCIA) — Kloe Froebe is no stranger to the basketball court. Coming from a family of college players, the Lincoln junior grew up going to her two older siblings’ travel basketball tournaments every weekend.
“I watched my siblings and so their influence on me has been astronomical,” Froebe said, the third of four children. “We basically have grown up living in one of the gyms in town. In the summer, I’ve known nothing but a basketball summer.”
So joining an AAU team in Chicago wasn’t out of the ordinary for Froebe, with her mom driving her two-plus hours every Saturday for practice.
“I’m so fortunate to have her as a mom and a coach,” Kloe said. “She’s always forced me to be a better person and a better player and I’m really fortunate for that.”
With that family support, the 5-foot-9 junior point guard averaged 28.1 points per game this season as a junior. Froebe put up 40 points in super-sectional and state semifinal wins, leading Lincoln to a Class 3A runner-up finish.
“My whole family was at the state games both days, they both came back, it was kind of cool because we were all in the same house again, which doesn’t happen often,” Froebe said. “So it was really nice to be able to come home to a sort of normalcy again.”
Froebe broke the all-class IHSA state tournament single game scoring record with 45 points in a semifinal win over Deerfield. With more than 2,100 career points, she’s less than 200 from the Lincoln all-time leading scorer record. The mark shouldn’t be hard to break with one season left, but that hasn’t stopped Froebe from getting back in the gym, wasting little time after a historic season for the Railers.
“I’ve been in the gym like every single day, which is even more than last year,” she said. “We don’t want to feel that loss again. I think it really struck us in the heart and so I feel like next year we’re going to really come out with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and hopefully be able to top what we were able to accomplish this year.”
“The ceiling is so high for her,” Lincoln head coach Taylor Rohrer said. “I just think that she continues to get better and better. I don’t have expectations for her. I believe that she’s going to put the work in to become the best player that she can be and she’s going to continue to be the player that she is.”
And Froebe strives to be that player, with the support of her family guiding her every step.
“They are really why I am the player I am today,” she said.
As for college, Froebe remains uncommitted but is planning to make a decision before summer with her pick of the litter including offers from Northwestern, Purdue and Illinois, among several other Division I programs. And she’ll do it as the WCIA 3 Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
WCIA 3 GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS
2023: Kloe Froebe, Lincoln
2022: Mallory Ramage, Mattoon
2021: Erin Houpt, Danville
2020: Capria Brown, Schlarman
2019: Anaya Peoples, Schlarman
2018: Anaya Peoples, Schlarman
2017: Sierra Thompson, Mattoon
2016: Tori McCoy, St. Thomas More
2015: Lexi Wallen, St. Thomas More
2014: Tori McCoy, St. Thomas More
