The nearly month-long break between games didn't seem to bother Lancaster Bible junior Aubrey Folger and her Charger teammates as Lancaster Bible throttled Penn College, 87-54 on Wednesday evening at Horst Athletic Center. Folger led the way with 25 points and a season-high 18 rebounds as the Chargers won their fourth straight game and 27th straight regular season North Eastern Athletic Conference contest.

A tight game early on, the Chargers used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to break away from the Wildcats. After Jamie Steer tied the game at 12-12 with 14:56 to play in the first, the Chargers scored the next 10 points and held Penn College off the scoreboard for over four minutes. In between, four different Lancaster Bible players had buckets as Katy Stover, Meaghan Williams, Kirsten Webster and Folger converted field goals.

The lead grew to as many as 19 in the first half and finally rested at 15 as the Chargers took a 41-26 lead into halftime. Stover had 17 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while Folger had 14 points in the first 20 minutes.

Lancaster Bible kept its collective foot on the pedal in the second half as the Chargers increased the lead to 23 points with 12:50 remaining on back-to-back made free throws from Webster. The lead finally reached 30 on a layup from freshman Molly Arnold with 1:14 to play and sophomore Naomi Otis produced the final score with the first collegiate bucket of her career with 46 seconds to play.

Shanice Smith was a force inside for the Chargers the entire game as she scored 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Williams finished with seven points and a career-high nine assists. Webster was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line en route to 10 points, while Stover finished with 19 points and three steals.

"Aubrey said she didn't think she played very well, but even when she thinks that, she is still making great plays on defense and hustling all over the place," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rachel Steinbarger said. 

Despite scoring 85 or more points for the third time this season, the Chargers didn't shoot particularly well for much of the game and finished 35-of-76 (46.1 percent) from the floor.

"Going forward we need to limit the roller coaster effect of each game," Steinbarger said. "We look great for stretches of time and there are other parts of the game where it doesn't seem like we are doing many things correctly. We need to even those out and make sure we are playing smart for 40 minutes."

Steinbarger said she was impressed with her upperclassmen tonight, specifically Williams and Smith. 

"Meaghan was a great leader on the floor tonight," Steinbarger said. "She found the open player the whole game and a lot of the time that was Shanice, who I thought was just a dominant force down low."

The Chargers will put their NEAC winning streak to the test on Saturday as they face Penn St. Abington in Abington, Pa. The Nittany Lions are 5-1 this season and 2-0 in NEAC play thus far. Steinbarger believes the early season road test is important for the Chargers.

"Road wins are important, but winning on the road in conference play is even more important," Steinbarger said. "I think we need to play a little better defensively than we did tonight and limit our mistakes. Winning on Saturday would be a big step for this team."

Saturday's game is scheduled to tip-off at 1 p.m.

Notes:
-With three 3-pointers on Wednesday, Stover needs just three more to eclipse 100 for her career at Lancaster Bible. 

-The all-time series between the two schools is now tied at 1-1.

-Penn College and Lancaster Bible will meet again on February 17 in Williamsport, Pa.