There is a reason the saying, "It's hard to beat a team three times in one season," exists and the Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team proved it to be true once again as they defeated College of St. Elizabeth, 65-57 on Tuesday night in the NEAC South Division Quarter-Final.

The Chargers had lost twice to the Screaming Eagles this season, including 75-65 last Thursday in Lancaster, but finally found a way to defeat St. Elizabeth - punch first and limit the Screaming Eagles' big scoring runs.

After being down by 11 points just 2:50 into the game last Thursday, the Chargers an early 12-9 lead just 4:41 into the game on Tuesday and not only hung with the host Screaming Eagles, but outplayed them in the first half. Leading 33-29 at halftime, the Chargers led St. Elizabeth in every statistical category at the break.

"We told the ladies we wanted to take the game to St. Elizabeth this time and they responded," Chargers' Head Coach Doug Helsel said. "We punched first this time and I think we caught them off guard a little bit."

Junior Lauren Heliger had 16 of her game-high 22 points in the first half and was 6-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

After extending their lead to six at 45-39, the Chargers gave up the only big St. Elizabeth run of the evening as the Screaming Eagles used an 11-2 run to take a 40-37 lead with 16:54 to play.

"St. Elizabeth is a good team and they weren't going to give in on their home floor," Helsel said. "I was proud of the way we responded after that run they went on."

Respond they did as they re-took the lead at 46-43 on a jumper by Brittney Becker at the 13:01 mark. St. Elizabeth controlled play for the next few minutes, but very few points were scored by either team as the Screaming Eagles led, 55-51 with 6:34 to play.

Freshman Sarah Heilenman, who had 11 points and 15 rebounds on the evening, tied the game at 55-55 with a layup at the 4:09 mark. Brooklyn Wilson capped the 2:34 long, 8-0 run with a 3-pointer at the 3:40 mark. Sabrina Jarmolinski snapped a 3:57 St. Elizabeth scoring drought with a jumper in the paint to cut the Chargers' lead to 59-57.

An Emily Lloyd layup and free throw by Brooklyn Wilson 15 seconds later gave LBC a 62-57 lead with 1:54 to play. St. Elizabeth had chance after chance in the final minute and a half of play, grabbing seven offensive rebounds, but simply could not score. Wilson and Heliger hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final eight seconds to seal the win for LBC.

"I want to credit our 'second five,'"Helsel said. "Nicole Valinteno, Emily Timberlake, Janelle Hackman, Katie Coomber and Carmin Nachtigal did a terrific job in practice yesterday getting our starters ready for today. We told them we needed them to have their best practice of the season and they did. They were very important to tonight's win."

Lloyd finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Wilson added eight points and three assists. Senior Brittney Becker had eight points, six assists and five rebounds as she and the Chargers won for the 15th time this season.

LBC (15-11) moves on to Saturday's NEAC Semi-Finals where they will face regular season champion, SUNYIT at 4 p.m. The Wildcats, who are the host for this weekend's games, defeated the Chargers, 73-47, on January 20 in Lancaster.

Prior to Saturday's game, the Chargers will play another very important game as they host Valley Forge Christian on Thursday night in the NCCAA East Region Final. LBC will look to win its first East Region title since 2003 and advance to the NCCAA National Tournament in Circleville, Ohio. Thursday's tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Notes:
-In the NEAC North Division Quarter-Final, #2 Keuka defeated #3 SUNY Cobleskill, 50-48 as Keuka's Casey Chamberlain made two free throws with four seconds to play.

-Penn St. Harrisburg, the NEAC North Division Champion, will take on Keuka on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Utica, N.Y.

-All season long, LBC Assistant Coach Adam Surguine has sung his made-up song about Hotel Utica, which is sung to the tune of Hotel California. With SUNYIT being the top seed in the NEAC and thus hosting the NEAC Semi-Finals and Final, the Chargers will stay in none other than...the Hotel Utica this weekend.

-Valley Forge Christian defeated Philadelphia Biblical, 62-46, in the NCCAA East Region Semi-Final.