The Lancaster Bible women's basketball team clinched homecourt advantage throughout the upcoming North Eastern Athletic Conference playoffs and the NEAC South Division title on Friday night as the Chargers hung on late to defeat SUNY Polytechnic, 78-69 at Horst Athletic Center. The victory clinches the fourth consecutive NEAC South Division title for the Chargers who will now host the NEAC Final Four later this month for the third time in four seasons. Friday night's win moves the Chargers to 18-3 overall this season and 15-1 in NEAC play.

How it Happened: Unlike the men's game which saw the Chargers fall behind 14-3 in the first few minutes of the game, the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team came out firing and grabbed an early, 17-6 lead with three minutes to play in the opening quarter. Senior Katy Stover was at the heart of the run as she turned her solid defensive effort into six of the 17 points as the Chargers opened up an 11-point lead.

Lancaster Bible would eventually take a 23-14 lead after 10 minutes of play and poured it on in the second quarter as the Chargers scored the first 14 points of the second quarter and took a 37-14 lead with 6:01 to remaining thanks to a layup from Alyssa Bowen. The Chargers maintained a sizable lead throughout the rest of the quarter took a 49-28 lead into halftime.

Good teams, which SUNY Poly is, don't go away so easily however and the Wildcats showed why they entered the game on a 13-game winning streak and outscored the Chargers, 25-13 in the third quarter to trail by just nine entering the fourth quarter. SUNY Poly's Stevie Ray had 10 of the team's 25 points in the third quarter as her 3-pointers and buckets in transition ignited the Wildcats' comeback.

The fourth quarter showed why these two teams have been atop their respective divisions for much of the season as the teams fought one another for every second of the final 10 minutes. Geena Gallo's layup with 5:39 to play trimmed SUNY Poly's deficit to two at 65-63, and after a bucket from Stover, the Wildcats again cut their deficit to two on another basket from Ray, as Lancaster Bible led, 67-65 with 4:09 remaining. 

Lancaster Bible's biggest possession of the game followed and Kirsten Webster capped it with a three-point play that sent the Chargers' crowd into a frenzy. SUNY Poly turned the ball over on its next three possessions and though the Wildcats cut their deficit to three once more with two minutes to play, the Chargers got back-to-back layups from Shanice Smith and converted their free throws down the stretch to win by nine.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 30-of-71 (42.3 percent) from the floor, but just 9-of-36 (25 percent) in the second half after a blazing 21-of-35 (60 percent) effort in the opening half...Senior Aubrey Folger led the Chargers with 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Stover finished with 19 points and two assists...Webster added 16 points and a career-high eight assists, while Smith was the fourth player in double figures with 11 points and also pulled down 17 rebounds...Ray finished with a game-high 28 points for SUNY Poly...Lancaster Bible held a 40-29 rebounding edge and turned the ball over 17 times, compared to 25 turnovers for the Wildcats.

The Coach Says: "We came ready to play which was great, because we wanted to have a good start," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "We wanted to take care of the ball and get good possessions and in the first half, we did that."

On the third quarter..."We were a bit tired, but we were sloppy defensively and just soft," Vanderhoff said. "SUNY Poly is a good team and they took advantage of us being a little lazy and made shots."

On holding on for the win..."We did the little things well and I loved that we had lots of fight at the end of the game," Vanderhoff said. "I thought Kirsten was aggressive on the offensive end of the floor and opened some things up for other players.

On hosting the NEAC Final Four..."It's huge for us," Vanderhoff said. "The fan base gives us a huge advantage and it is something special to play in front of a crowd like this."

Extra! Extra!: Lancaster Bible is now 2-4 all-time against SUNY Polytechnic...The Chargers other win against the Wildcats came during the 2013-14 season when Lancaster Bible defeated the Wildcats, 61-56 in Utica, N.Y...SUNY Poly has already clinched the NEAC North Division...Lancaster Bible hosted the NEAC Final Four during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons...SUNY Poly hosted the NEAC Final Four last season.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts SUNY Cobleskill on Saturday at 3 p.m...It will be Senior Day and the Chargers will honor Folger, Smith and Stover prior to the contest.