After losing its first regular season North Eastern Athletic Conference game in almost two years this past Saturday at Penn St. Abington, the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team had no desire to experience a second straight conference loss on Tuesday as they hosted St. Elizabeth at Horst Athletic Center. Thanks to Aubrey Folger and Shanice Smith, the Chargers felt no such feeling and returned to the win column with a 61-54 victory over the visiting Eagles.

Folger had 23 points and 18 rebounds on 11-of-17 shooting to pace the Chargers, while Smith added 17 points and 13 rebounds as Lancaster Bible improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in NEAC play this season.

The Chargers opened the game on a 6-0 run and eventually led, 12-4 after a layup from Katy Stover with 12:16 to play in the opening half. The Eagles, led by Ashley Pledger's game-high 30 points, clawed their way back into the game and took their first lead of the contest at 19-18 with 4:47 to play in the first half. Pledger had 15 of St. Elizabeth's 23 first half points as she was 7-of-10 in the opening 20 minutes. Ultimately the Chargers re-took the lead and earned a 27-23 halftime advantage.

Though Pledger continued to score, the rest of the Eagles were shut down by Lancaster Bible's team defense and the Chargers opened the second half on a 10-5 run and led 37-28 with 13:10 to play. Stover's lone 3-pointer of the game at the 11:27 mark gave Lancaster Bible a 42-30 lead, but back-to-back buckets by the Eagles cut the deficit to eight with just over 10 minutes to play.

Once again though, it was Smith and Folger who helped the Chargers increase their lead as Lancaster Bible used a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to tak a 49-35 lead with 8:35 to play. Two Smith free throws with 4:57 to play gave Lancaster Bible its biggest lead of the game at 17 points , 56-39, but the Eagles kept the game interesting until the end and cut the deficit to seven, but would get no closer as Lancaster Bible improved to 6-2 all-time against St. Elizabeth.

Folger's double-double was her seventh of the season and the fourth time she has had 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in a game this season. 

"Aubrey brought the team back together after Saturday's loss," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rachel Steinbarger said. "From the very first bucket tonight, she put the team on her back and was teriffic on both ends of the floor. Her rebounding, especially on the offensive end, was huge for us tonight."

Of Folger's 18 rebounds, half of them came on the offensive end as the Chargers held a 46-32 edge on the glass on Tuesday night.

Steinbarger thought the team handled St. Elizabeth's zone fairly well most of the game, but thought they could have scored even more.

"There were points in the game where we literally walked around, but when we used some of our quickness and skipped the pass, we got good looks and took advantage of them," Steinbarger said.

Though her attributes don't show up on the score sheet, Steinbarger thought sophomore Naomi Otis played very well on Tuesday.

"I am so proud of Naomi and the way she played tonight," Steinbarger said. "She took care of the ball on offense and is just a bulldog on defense. She tries hard on every defensive possession and any assignment we give her, she is up for and is just a fearless defender."

Another bright spot for the Chargers was the play of junior Christy Lorah who had four points, three assists and three turnovers in 25 minutes. 

"It was nice to see confidence from Christy on both ends of the floor," Steinbarger said.

When asked how she felt about an opposing player scoring 30 points on the Chargers, Steinbarger chuckled and noted she didn't enjoy that part of the game, but was very happy with the team defense.

"I can't say I'm particularly happy about someone scoring 30 points and I thought we struggled with our game plan for her a lot of the night, but our team defense on everyone else was excellent," Steinbarger said. "I guess if we can shut everyone else down the way we did tonight, then 30 points is OK."

Lancaster Bible will get its first look at the NEAC North Division this weekend as the Chargers host Cazenovia on Friday evening and Morrisville State on Saturday afternoon. Cazenovia is 2-1 in NEAC play, while the Mustangs are 2-0 in league play and 6-3 overall.

"We are going to need energy for 40 minutes in both games, but we are playing pretty well right now and playing at home is always a plus for us," Steinbarger said.

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible has now won 21 straight regular season NEAC home games.

-Lancaster Bible's last regular season NEAC home loss came on February 16, 2012 against St. Elizabeth. The only loss the Chargers have suffered at home to a NEAC team came in last season's NEAC Final when Wells shocked Lancaster Bible, 67-60.

-After this weekend's home games, the Chargers will play their next five games on the road.