The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team dropped its second straight game on Friday night as the Chargers lost to North Eastern Athletic Conference North Division leader SUNY Polytechnic, 76-70 in Utica, N.Y. The loss drops the Chargers into a tie for the lead in the NEAC South Division and the Chargers must win on Saturday, combined with a Bryn Athyn loss at Morrisville State, to secure their fifth straight NEAC South Division title. Lancaster Bible is now 17-7 overall and 16-3 in NEAC play, while SUNY Poly moves to 22-2 overall and 16-1 in conference action. The win also clinched home-court advantage for the Wildcats throughout the NEAC Playoffs.

How it Happened: The Chargers held SUNY Poly without a basket for the first 3:02 of the game and grabbed an early 4-0 lead. Both teams settled in following the opening few minutes and the Wildcats grabbed a 13-10 lead on a jumper from Khristaijah Jackson with 3:08 to play. A layup from sophomore Courtney Goyak on Lancaster Bible's next possession, followed by a 3-pointer from senior Naomi Otis gave the Chargers a 15-13 lead with 2:30 to play in the first. After a late free throw from freshman Emily Morgan gave the Chargers a three-point lead, Kiersten Leos hit a 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining to knot the game at 16-16 after one quarter of play.

The teams continued to go back-and-forth in the second quarter with SUNY Poly finally creating some space with just under four minutes to play. Taylor Aybar's 3-pointer with 3:43 to play in the half gave the Wildcats a 36-29 lead, but Lancaster Bible didn't go away and another late free throw from Morgan cut the Chargers' deficit to five, 39-34 heading into halftime.

Lancaster Bible owned the third quarter as the Chargers used an 11-4 run over the first 4:40 of the third quarter to take a 45-43 lead. Freshman Caitlin Hickey and junior Kirsten Webster each had four points during the run, while Goyak provided the final three. The Chargers eventually opened up a five-point lead, 54-49, before taking a 55-51 advantage into the fourth quarter. 

Morgan's bucket 16 seconds into the fourth gave the Chargers their largest lead of the game at 57-51 and Otis expanded it two minutes later when her jumper made it 60-53 with 7:39 to play. Lancaster Bible maintained its lead to the middle of the fourth quarter, but SUNY Poly tied the game at 64-64 on a basket from Jackson with 4:09 to play.

The bucket was part of a 12-0 run that saw the Wildcats turn a 64-60 deficit into a 72-64 lead with 47 seconds to play. Paige Gallo's 3-pointer with 2:57 was the dagger and Lancaster Bible tried to get back into the game in the final minute, but ran out of time and lost its second straight.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 46 percent (29-of-63) from the field, but just 5-of-14 from 3-point range...SUNY Poly shot 41.4 percent (29-of-70) from the floor and just 7-of-24 from beyond the arc...Morgan finished with a career-high 20 points to lead the Chargers as she was 9-of-17 from the field...Hickey and Webster each had 14 points, while Goyak finished with eight points and 19 rebounds...Otis finished with nine points and three assists...Jackson had 20 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Wildcats.

The Coach Says: "We competed all night long and I'm very proud of the team for that," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "There were a couple of stretches where we didn't play very well and the one in the fourth quarter killed us. There were five or so possessions in the fourth quarter where we weren't very good and it cost us the game. I thought Naomi Otis played the best game of her career on both ends of the floor and I was happy with the team's performance, we just need to clean up some of our rough stretches."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 2-6 all-time against SUNY Poly...This was the first meeting between the two teams since last season's NEAC Final which the Wildcats also won...Morgan's previous career-high was 14 points...The back-to-back losses are the first for the Chargers since Dec. 5 and 7 when Lancaster Bible lost to Messiah and Neumann...Lancaster Bible is 8-4 on the road this season.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible wraps up the regular season on Saturday at SUNY Cobleskill...Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.