Ten girls high school girls basketball players to watch for the 2023-24 season
Fans of girls basketball in central Illinois have just one season left to see one of the most impactful players in area history.
Lincoln’s Kloe Froebe, who finished second last season in Ms. Basketball of Illinois voting, has the Railsplitters poised once again to compete for a Class 3A state championship. Last season, the Railers finished second in Class 3A, losing in the title game to LaGrange Park Nazareth.
More: Meet the SJ-R's Large School Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Lincoln's Kloe Froebe
But Froebe isn’t the only player worth the price of admission — not even on her own team (see our upcoming list of area girls basketball teams to watch). Coming into the 2023-24 girls basketball season, there are plenty of reasons to trudge through the Illinois cold and snow and find a warm gymnasium throughout The State Journal-Register's coverage area. The SJ-R takes a look at just some of the best players suiting up this season.
Maggie Fleischli, Sacred Heart-Griffin
The Cyclones’ standout senior guard averaged 9.7 points and 6.8 rebounds in the 2022-23 season and helped SHG to 26 wins while shooting 44.7% from the floor.
Kloe Froebe, Lincoln
The Railers’ 5-foot-10 senior already set the school record for career scoring and has a majority of the season to launch her final tally into the stratosphere. The guard led the Railers to a 36-1 record a season ago, scored more than 1,000 points as a junior, was a unanimous Class 3A all-state first-team pick by The Associated Press, was the Ms. Basketball of Illinois runner-up and earned The State Journal-Register's Large School Player of the Year award.
More: Prep spotlight: Girls basketball results from Springfield area for Dec. 1-2
Marisa Gant, Southeast
The Spartans’ senior guard has improved each season and was an Illinois Basketball Coaches Association special mention pick for Class 3A last season, when she was second in the Central State Eight Conference in scoring with 17.5 ppg. She drained 41 3s as a junior and took 156 free throws.
Josie Hughes, Havana
Despite the graduation loss of Taryn Wickman, a fellow 2023 selection of The State Journal-Register's Small School Girls Basketball team, the Ducks’ hopes of another deep postseason run are realistic thanks to this junior guard. An IBCA Class 1A honorable mention, she averaged 12.0 points, 4.0 points, 3.0 blocks and 1.7 steals as Havana won the 1A Abingdon-Avon Sectional championship last season.
Taylor Offer, Rochester
The Rockets’ junior guard averaged nearly 17 ppg through her first eight games and was also leading the team in rebounds and assists. She led the 27-win Rockets in the 2022-23 season in assists and scored 6.7 ppg.
Jayce Privia, Petersburg PORTA
The senior point guard is a two-time member of The State Journal-Register's Small School Girls Basketball team. A season ago, she led the Bluejays to a 27-2 overall record, which included a 7-1 mark in the Sangamo Conference. She averaged 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
Emma Scheffler, Springfield High
The Senators’ senior guard and biggest threat from behind the arc led the Central State Eight Conference with 78 made 3-pointers on 31.0% shooting a season ago and was named IBCA Class 3A all-state special mention. She averaged 10.3 ppg, scored 339 points and went 67-for-99 (67.7%) at the free-throw line.
Addison Tarr, Taylorville
As a sophomore, Tarr led the Tornadoes in scoring (15.5 pgg) while averaging 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. She’s able to defend all five positions as a 5-foot-11 guard/forward and is an accurate shooter (53% from the field, 36.2% on 3s, 76% on FTs). She was named to the IBCA Class 3A all-state special mention list.
Isabella Tiburzi, Carlinville
The Cavaliers’ junior 5-foot-10 guard-center combo set a school record in career assists after she passed 2022 graduate Jill Stayton’s 230 dimes on Thursday, Nov. 30. The Cavs went 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the South Central Conference through November and Tiburzi leads the team in scoring (11.0 ppg), rebounding (7.0 rpg), assists (4.5 apg) and made 19 of her 21 free-throw attempts.
Makenna Yeager, Chatham Glenwood
The Titans’ senior guard led the team with 14.7 ppg on 40% shooting — which included 48 3-pointers. She’s also capable of getting to the foul line with 141 attempts there. Yeager has helped Glenwood post a 4-1 record in November under first-year coach Alyssa Riley.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA girls basketball players to watch around Springfield area in 2023-24
