A pretty win this was not, but the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team will take it as the Chargers completed a perfect 3-0 week in conference play by defeating Morrisville State, 49-41 on Saturday at Horst Athletic Center. After earning victories against St. Elizabeth and Cazenovia earlier this week, Lancaster Bible is now 8-3 overall and 6-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play.

Saturday's game will not be put in any instructional books on basketball in the near future as both teams struggled from the floor for almost the entire game. After back-to-back free throws from Marissa Woodard made it 9-8 in favor of the Mustangs five minutes into the game, the Chargers went on a 13-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 21-13 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half.

The Mustangs would eventually cut the deficit to five at 26-21, but Lancaster Bible scored on its next two possessions, a layup from junior Aubrey Folger followed by a 3-pointer from sophomore Kirsten Webster, and the Chargers had their biggest lead of the game, 31-21. Despite a modest, by Folger standards, 11 points on Saturday, the junior had 21 rebounds, 15 of which came on the offensive glass as she continued to extend Lancaster Bible possessions all afternoon.

After trailing 34-25 at halftime, Morrisville State scored the first five points of the second half to close the gap to four at 34-30, Alyssa Gratien's 3-pointer with 19:08 to play closed the gap to four, but for the next 12 minutes, Elsa from Frozen had a hotter shooting hand than any player on either team. 

The Chargers and Mustangs each scored just four points over the next 12 minutes, but the scoring drought for Lancaster Bible proved costly as they did not score for nine minutes and Morrisville State got back into the game and cut the deficit to two on a layup from Jordan Anderson with 7:45 to play.

The Mustangs would complete the comeback three minutes later as Caitlin Duree finished a three-point play to give Morrisville State a 41-40 lead with 4:51 to play. While not known at the time, it would be the last points of the game for Morrisville State.

Shanice Smith converted a layup on Lancaster Bible's next possession to give the Chargers a 42-41 lead and the advantage stayed there for almost three minutes until Christy Lorah hit a huge 3-pointer to give Lancaster Bible a 45-41 lead with 1:43 to go.

Webster and Smith hit both their free throws down the stretch to produce the final score of 49-41. The Chargers shot just 25.4 percent (16-of-63) for the game, while Morrisville State shot 28.6 percent (14-of-49). Stover finished with 15 points for Lancaster Bible, while Smith had 12 points and 13 rebounds to go with her five steals and three assists.

"I'm proud of the girls for pulling out a win in a close game," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rachel Steinbarger said. "Not much went right offensively for us, but I thought we played our best defense of the year. To struggle like that on offense and still have that desire to play defense shows how much we wanted it today."

Steinbarger was also pleased with how much hustle and determination the team showed despite playing for the second time in 20 hours.

"The girls were exhausted by the end of the game, but I'm just so darn excited for them and the way they played through everything today," Steinbarger said.

After hosting three straight games this week, the Chargers will now take to the road and play five straight away games. Lancaster Bible does not return home until Tuesday, February 3 against Bryn Athyn. The five-game roadtrip begins next weekend with games at Keuka and Wells, followed by another three-game week with games at St. Elizabeth, Wilson and Gallaudet. 

Next Friday's game at Keuka is set to begin at 6 p.m.

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible improves to 4-0 all-time against Morrisville State.

-The Mustangs face Penn St. Berks on Sunday at 12 p.m.