It's a hat trick for the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team as the Chargers clinched their third straight North Eastern Athletic Conference South Division title on Friday night as Lancaster Bible defeated Gallaudet, 72-62 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers, 20-4 overall and 17-2 in NEAC play, needed to win just one of their final two games heading into Friday night to clinch the division and they wasted little time as Lancaster Bible jumped out to an early 8-2 lead just 3:43 into the game.

The game tightened up after that as the teams were either exchanging buckets back-and-forth or going ice cold from the field. Lancaster Bible eventually took a 31-26 lead into halftime thanks to a late jumper by Katy Stover. Stover owned the first half as she had 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Lancaster Bible controlled play early in the second half as well as the Chargers opened the half on an 11-2 run over the first 7:22 of the second half. A three-point play from junior Aubrey Folger capped the run and gave Lancaster Bible a 42-28 lead with 12:38 to play. Gallaudet began to chip away at the lead and cut it to six, 50-44, on a jumper by Kori Koss with 6:50 remaining. A jumper from Folger and a 3-pointer from Christy Lorah quickly restored the Chargers' double-digit lead at 55-44 and though Gallaudet trimmed the deficit to nine once more, they would not get any closer and the South Division title was once again coming to Lancaster.

Stover finished with 21 points and she will enter Saturday's regular season finale just five points shy of 1,000 for her career. She added six rebounds and four steals, while Folger had 19 points and 13 rebounds. Kirsten Webster finished with 13 points, 11 of them coming from the free throw line, while Shanice Smith added 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

"Katy has played very well the past two games on both ends of the floor," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rachel Steinbarger said. "I'm excited to see her score her 1,000th point tomorrow."

Steinbarger thought many members of team provided the Chargers with positive play on Friday, including Webster and Meaghan Williams.

"I'm just so proud of Kirsten and how she has pushed through so much this season," Steinbarger said. "She shows so much heart every night and she hit some big free throws down the stretch. Meaghan had her best defensive game of the season and challenged Gage on many of her shots. She has worked hard over the past few seasons and deserves to be recognized on Saturday."

Zamica Gage had a game-high 29 points to pace Gallaudet.

Williams will be the only senior recognized on Saturday as the Chargers host Wilson on Senior Day. The game has been moved up to 11 a.m. from its original time of 1 p.m. due to the impending snow headed toward the region.

Notes:
-With five points, Stover will become the ninth player in program history to score 1,000 points and the second this season as Folger scored her 1,000th point in the season opener against Baptist Bible. 

-Lancaster Bible is a perfect 10-0 this season at home.