The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team won its sixth straight game on Saturday as the Chargers defeated Penn St. Berks, 56-38 in Reading, Pa. The win moves the Chargers to 17-5 overall this season and 16-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play.
 
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible's offense slowly got into its groove on Saturday as the Chargers scored just two points in the opening four minutes of the game and trailed 5-2 after a free throw from the Nittany Lions' Deanna Daddona. A 3-pointer from freshman Caitlin Hickey and a layup from junior Kirsten Webster on back-to-back possessions gave the Chargers a 7-5 lead, but the Nittany Lions answered right back with a 3-pointer of their own to take an 8-7 advantage.
 
Webster and Hickey hit 3-pointers later in the quarter for Lancaster Bible and the Chargers took a 13-11 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
The Chargers took their time to get going again in the second quarter as well and trailed 18-15 with 4:56 to play in the half. From there it was all Chargers as Lancaster Bible closed the half on a 15-0 run.
 
Hickey keyed the run as she hit two straight 3-pointers, followed by two free throws from Webster to give the Chargers a 23-18 lead. A jumper from senior Naomi Otis and a layup from freshman Stephanie Ehko gave Lancaster Bible a 27-18 advantage and Hickey capped the run with another 3-pointer with four seconds remaining.
 
If Hickey owned the first half, the second half belonged to sophomore Courtney Goyak. Goyak scored the first six points of the third quarter for the Chargers and began grabbing seemingly every rebound. Lancaster Bible maintained its double-digit lead through the third quarter and a layup from Webster with seven seconds remaining gave the Chargers a 46-26 lead after 30 minutes.
 
Goyak kept going in the fourth quarter as she scored eight of the team's first 10 points, the last bucket giving the Chargers a 55-29 lead with 6:27 to play. Penn St. Berks scored the final seven points of the game to produce the final score.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot just 27.8 percent (20-of-72), including 6-of-22 from 3-point range…Penn St. Berks shot the ball even worse as the Nittany Lions shot 22.4 percent (13-of-58) and 4-of-18 from beyond the arc…Goyak finished with 18 points, all of them coming in the second half, and a career-high 36 rebounds…The 36 rebounds are two shy of the NCAA Division III record for rebounds in a game…Hickey had 17 points and was 5-of-12 from beyond the arc…Webster had a season-high 17 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists…Naomi Otis and Stephanie Ehko each had two points…Lancaster Bible held a 57-36 rebounding edge…Sam Brensinger had 15 points to pace the Nittany Lions.
 
The Coach Says: "We started off pretty slow," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "It took us a while to get in a rhythm offensively, but I thought defensively, we were solid the entire game and really frustrated their shooters. Courtney was huge again on the boards which helped us pull away in the second half."
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 14-2 all-time against Penn St. Berks…The 38 points allowed are a season-low for the Chargers and the third time this season they have held an opponent under 50 points…Lancaster Bible's 27.8 percent shooting is also a season-low…The Chargers are 8-3 on the road this season…Lancaster Bible is outscoring its opponents by 144 points in the first half of games this season…Goyak's 486 rebounds are already the eighth-most for a single season in NCAA Division III history…Carla Gadsden holds the record for rebounds in a season with 579 which she pulled down for New Jersey City in 1982.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Bryn Athyn on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m…It will be Senior Night as the Chargers honor their seniors prior to the contest.