The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team won its fourth straight game on Thursday night as the Chargers defeated St. Elizabeth, 68-65 in Morristown, N.J. The win sends the Chargers to 8-4 overall and keeps them perfect in North Eastern Athletic Conference play at 7-0. St. Elizabeth is now 7-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play. 

How it Happened: The teams went back-and-forth in the first quarter as the game was high-scoring through the first 10 minutes with the Chargers leading, 21-18. Senior Krissy Pennell was the star of the opening 10 minutes as she tallied seven assists, though not to be outdone, sophomore Courtney Goyak had 13 of the team's 21 first-quarter points as she dominated the game down low.

Lancaster Bible opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run over the first 5:51 and took a game-high 13-point lead at 31-18. Freshman Caitlin Hickey had five of the run's 10 points as the Chargers stepped up their play on both ends of the floor. Though St. Elizabeth cut its deficit to seven late in the quarter, the Chargers answered with a 6-0 run over the final 2:09 to take a 39-26 lead into halftime.

The third quarter went poorly to stay the least for the Chargers who were outscored 22-6. Lancaster Bible scored just two points in the final 5:21 of the third quarter as St. Elizabeth roared ahead, 48-45 after 30 minutes of play. 

The final 10 minutes of play resembled the first 10 minutes as the teams traded basket-for-basket. Freshman Kaylee Boger tied the game with a 3-pointer with 8:09 left and the game stayed knotted at 52-52 for almost two minutes. Lache Robinson gave St. Elizabeth a 59-56 lead with a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter and the Eagles turned it into a four-point advantage when Patricia Dennis hit one of two free throws with 4:56 to play.

Lancaster Bible found the answer again as Hickey knocked down a jumper and Pennell followed with two free throws on the next possession to tie the game at 60-60. With the game tied at 64, St. Elizabeth's Jasmine Poole hit one of two free throws to give the Eagles a one-point lead with 1:29 left. After an empty possession for the Chargers, Lancaster Bible played solid defense and got the ball back with under a minute to play. The ball found Boger and she drained another 3-pointer to give the Chargers a 67-65 lead with 42 seconds remaining. 

The Eagles missed a 3-pointer with their next possession and Boger hit one of two free throws to extend Lancaster Bible's lead to three with 11 seconds left. St. Elizabeth had one chance to tie the game, but missed another 3-pointer and the Chargers had their fourth straight win.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 53.1 percent (26-of-49) from the field, while St. Elizabeth shot just 33.3 percent (27-of-81) from the floor, including 5-of-25 from 3-point range...Goyak finished with a game-high 21 points to go with 21 rebounds, her third straight 20-20 game and fifth this season...Pennell finished with 12 points and tied a career-high with 14 assists...Hickey added 13 points and four boards, while fellow freshmen Emily Morgan and Boger each had 10 points...Jasmine Poole had a team-high 14 points for St. Elizabeth.

The Coach Says: "Wow, what a crazy game," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "I thought we did well at the beginning of the game and really settled in during the second quarter. St. Elizabeth was very aggressive and put a lot of pressure on us in the third quarter and that pressure got to us and we started playing their game. I was proud of the way we fought back in the fourth quarter and never gave up. Krissy did a tremendous job leading our team and willed us to the victory."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 10-2 all-time against St. Elizabeth...The Chargers have not lost to the Eagles since Feb. 16, 2012 and Lancaster Bible now has nine straight wins over St. Elizabeth...Goyak continues to lead NCAA Division III in rebounds per game at 20.1, while Pennell's 8.5 assists per game are also tops in NCAA Division III...Lancaster Bible has now won 21 straight NEAC games dating back to last season...The Chargers last conference loss came almost one year ago, a defeat at Morrisville State on Jan. 16, 2016 (77-70 in overtime).

Up Next: Lancaster Bible wraps up its busy week with a trip to Abington, Pa. on Saturday to face Penn St. Abington at 1 p.m.