The 2015-16 edition of the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team kicks off its season on Friday night as the Chargers take on Albright at the Neumann Tip-Off Tournament in Aston, Pa. After losing in the North Eastern Athletic Conference Semifinals last season, the Chargers ended the year on a high note as they took home third place at the NCCAA Division II National Tournament. This season, the Chargers will once again be led by Aubrey Folger, Shanice Smith and Katy Stover as the three seniors will have one last chance to lead the Chargers back to the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

The Recap:
Lancaster Bible has won the NEAC South Division for three straight seasons and been the conference tournament host in two of the past three seasons. Over the past three seasons, Lancaster Bible is 50-4 in NEAC play, including a 18-2 mark last season. Lancaster Bible won 12 straight games in the middle of last season and 16 of its last 17 regular season contests and earned a berth in the NEAC Quarterfinals where the Chargers defeated Wells, 70-39. 

The Chargers moved on to face Morrisville State, a team Lancaster Bible had held to just 41 points in the regular season, but a subpar shooting performance and early deficit, proved too much to overcome for the Chargers as they lost to the Mustangs, 73-59 in the NEAC Semifinals. Lancaster Bible rebounded two weeks later and advanced to the NCCAA Division II Semifinals and after overcoming an 18-point second half deficit against Central Christian, the Chargers lost on a last-second bucket to the Saints. The Chargers proved resilient again though and came back to defeat Kentucky Christian the following day, 57-53 and earn third place at the NCCAA Division II National Tournament.

The Players:
The big three return for one last hurrah, as Folger, Smith and Stover will once again look to lead the Chargers towards the top of the standings. They will be aided this season by junior guard Krissy Pennell who transferred from Elizabethtown over the summer. Pennell started all 25 games last season for the Blue Jays and will greatly improve the Chargers ability to move the ball up the floor. Also back for the Chargers is guard Kirsten Webster who proved very valuable last season as she provided stability to an offense that averaged 66.2 points per game. Sophomore Molly Arnold is the only other player back from last season as she will once again come off the bench for the Chargers and provide quality play.

In addition to the arrival of Pennell, the Chargers will also welcome Mary Finkbeiner, Alyssa Bowen, Marisa Jo Abts, Kathryn McBratney and Emily Olson to the fold. All five of the aforementioned players played a fall sport and will look to learn the offense quickly early in the season. Once they adjust from their fall sport to basketball, all five players should contribute for the Chargers in 2015-16.

Of the 66.2 points scored per game last season, Folger, Smith and Stover generated 48.2 of those points and they paced the Chargers night-in-and-night-out. While the load may lighten a bit this season, the majority of the points will still come from the big three on a nightly basis. Folger, the reigning NEAC Player of the Year, already holds the Lancaster Bible Women's Basketball record for points in a career and will look to become the college's all-time leading scorer this season. Folger has 1,545 points through three seasons and needs 434 points this year to pass Sam Rempel's record of 1,979 which he recorded from 1997-01. 

Smith keeps the Chargers' engine running on both ends of the floor as she averaged 13 points and 13.3 rebounds as season ago. Her 398 rebounds led the NEAC last season, as did her 270 defensive rebounds. She will once again be in charge of the paint and should have great opportunities all season long to get her points. Speaking of getting her points, Stover will benefit greatly from the arrival of Pennell as the two will look to dominate the backcourt. Pennell's ability to drive to the hoop should help create opportunities for the sharpshooter Stover who will look to continue her deadly aim from beyond the arc. Stover averaged 16.9 points per game last season and her 71 3-point field goals made were third-most in the NEAC. 

The Coach:
For the second straight season, Lancaster Bible will have a new coach at the helm as the Chargers will be led by Katelyn Vanderhoff this season. Along with assistant coaches Sherri Gorman, Sarah Wilcox and Stacie Ross, the coaching staff has been hard at work getting the Chargers ready for another season. 

The Outlook:
Vanderhoff has been pleased with the team thus far, despite the amount of people at practice due to so many fall student-athletes. Early in the season, Vanderhoff simply wants the team to play well on a nightly basis as they fine tune everything.

"I think early on I want to see us execute the offense and simply compete," Vanderhoff said. "We have three tough games right off the bat and we will need to play well to beat those teams. At the same time, I expect us to play well and hopefully we can get some early-season wins to give us some momentum as we head into conference play."

Vanderhoff said she and the coaching staff have been amazed at how quickly the players have been able to pick things up.

"Certainly having the seniors and Krissy be able to run things so smoothly has helped, but everyone is progressing quicker than we thought," Vanderhoff said. "I think the leadership on the floor from Folger, Smith, Stover and Pennell has enabled everyone to pick things up a little quicker than maybe we thought they would. It has been great for us as a team."

While there will be predictions of where the team is expected to finish, Vanderhoff said it doesn't matter where the Chargers are supposed to finish, but rather that they do everything they can to reach their goal, which is to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament. And in order to do that, Lancaster Bible will need to do something it hasn't done since the 2012-13 season and that is win the NEAC.

"We want to win the conference and compete in the NCAA tourney," Vanderhoff said. "The way to do that for us is winning the conference and that's what we have our sights on."

Vanderhoff said she and the coaches are looking forward to the first few games of the season to gage what is working and what is not and formulate a plan to make the Chargers successful for the long haul.

"We are excited for these first couple of games," Vanderhoff said. "Practice has been great, but we practice to play and we want to see how we stack up against some good teams."

2015-16 Roster
2015-16 Schedule