For the first time in almost two years, the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team lost a regular season North Eastern Athletic Conference contest as the Chargers fell to Penn St. Abington, 64-62 in Abington, Pa. on Saturday afternoon. The loss ends Lancaster Bible's 27-game regular season NEAC winning streak. Lancaster Bible's last regular season NEAC loss came on January 21, 2013 at SUNY Polytechnic when the Chargers fell to the Wildcats, 88-81.

On Saturday, the Chargers and Nittany Lions battled back and forth for 40 minutes. In the opening half, the teams traded baskets for much of the first 10 minutes, but Penn St. Abington used a 8-0 run midway through the half to turn a three-point deficit into a five-point lead at 25-20. The Chargers answered back with four straight points, but the Nittany Lions strung together another 8-0 run to take a 33-24 lead with 2:59 to play in the first half.

The Nittany Lion lead would grow to as many as 10 in the half, but a late bucket by Shanice Smith and free throw from Katy Stover cut the deficit to seven for the Chargers as they entered halftime.

Penn St. Abington maintained its slim lead in the beginning stages of the second half, but a 3-pointer by Stover with 13:58 left to play tied the game at 43. Once again however, Penn St. Abington seemed to play better as the Chargers got closer and opened up a seven-point lead, 54-47, with 8:42 to play. 

The Chargers (5-3, 3-1 NEAC) continued to trim the deficit and finally tied the game thanks, once again, to a bucket from Stover as she converted a layup with 5:12 remaining. A 3-pointer from Kirsten Webster on Lancaster Bible's next possession gave the Chargers their first lead since midway through the first half as they led 58-55 with 4:29 to play. 

Lancaster Bible maintained a slim lead until Penn St. Abington's Janaiah Elum knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:36 to play to give the home team a 60-58 lead. Stover tied the game with two free throws less than 10 seconds later, but Elum again gave the Nittany Lions the lead on a layup with 1:14 remaining. Aubrey Folger's layup with 49 seconds to play tied the game at 62-62 and Penn St. Abington called timeout.

The Nittany Lions' Jessica Schmidt was fouled with 25 seconds remaining and converted one of her two free throws to give Penn St. Abington a 63-62 lead. After a timeout, the Chargers worked the ball down the floor and Stover's contested layup just missed and Lancaster Bible was forced to foul to stop the clock. 

Stephanie Keyes, like her teammate before her, converted one of two free throws with two seconds remaining to give the Nittany Lions a 64-62 lead.

Lancaster Bible called timeout and drew up a play that was run to perfection as Shanice Smith threw the ball the length of the floor and hit Stover who saw her 3-point attempt go in-and-out as the buzzer sounded.

"The girls ran that final play to perfection and the shot just missed," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rachel Steinbarger said. "The girls didn't give up and I'm proud of them, the shot just didn't go this time."

Stover finished with a game-high 21 points, while fellow junior Aubrey Folger had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Steinbarger said the team didn't convert enough of its chances in the first half and it ended up costing them.

"We had good looks and what I thought were good chances, they just didn't go in," Steinbarger said. "I think if we hit a few of those shots and some of our first half free throws, we aren't down as many and maybe the second half looks a little different too."

Smith finished with 14 points and eight rebounds and Kirsten Webster chipped in with eight points, three rebounds and three assists. 

"I am so proud of Kirsten," Steinbarger said. "She provided us with fire and spark today. Shanice had one heck of a game too and Katy's effort and play-making was consistent throughout the game."

The Chargers shot 21-of-47 (44.7 percent) from the floor and were 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, but shot just 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) from the free throw line. Penn St. Abington (7-1, 4-0 NEAC) shot just 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) for the game.

"I don't think we played our best today, but Abington is a good team and we need to play better going forward if we are going to have success in our conference," Steinbarger said.

Lancaster Bible returns to the court on Tuesday when they host St. Elizabeth at 7 p.m. Like Penn St. Abington, the Eagles are 4-0 in NEAC play and are the last team to defeat the Chargers at home in NEAC regular season action.

Notes:
-Stover had three 3-pointers on Saturday and now has made 100 3-pointers in her Lancaster Bible career.

-Lancaster Bible's last home regular season NEAC loss came on Feb. 16, 2012 when St. Elizabeth defeated the Chargers, 75-65. 

-Lancaster Bible still leads the all-time series against Penn St. Abington, 7-5.