The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team overcame injury and adversity for much of the 2016-17 season and won its fifth straight North Eastern Athletic Conference South Division title this season. The Chargers host Penn St. Abington this evening as the Nittany Lions earned the final playoff spot, having won the tie-breaker over Wells and SUNY Cobleskill to grab the last spot. Lancaster Bible is in the NEAC playoffs for the sixth straight season, while the Nittany Lions are returning to the playoffs as the final seed for the second straight year.
 
Team Records:
Penn St. Abington: 12-13, 10-10 NEAC
Lancaster Bible: 18-7, 17-3 NEAC
 
How They Got Here:
Penn St. Abington: The Nittany Lions went 4-4 over the final eight games and earned the final playoff spot by winning the tie-breaker over two North Division opponents who they beat during the regular season…Penn St. Abington began the year 4-2 and was 8-5 midway through January, but a midseason swoon saw the Nittany Lions lose five of six games.
 
Lancaster Bible: The Chargers won their fifth straight division title on Saturday as Lancaster Bible defeated SUNY Cobleskill as Bryn Athyn was losing to Morrisville State…Lancaster Bible's win, coupled with Bryn Athyn's loss, gave the Chargers the division win…Lancaster Bible lost just three times in conference play and just once to a NEAC South Division opponent.
 
Penn St. Abington Statistics:
Team Points per Game: 68.9
Team Points Allowed per Game: 68.9 (0.0)
Team Shooting Percentage: 36.4% (631-of-1,734)
Points per Game: Shayna Rodriguez, 18.5
Rebounds per Game: Shayna Rodriguez, 9.4
Shooting Percentage: Shayna Rodriguez, 42.0% (182-of-433)
 
Lancaster Bible Statistics:
Team Points per Game: 70.7
Team Points Allowed per Game: 63.4 (+7.3)
Team Shooting Percentage: 45.0% (672-of-1,493)
Points per Game: Caitlin Hickey, 18.1
Rebounds per Game: Courtney Goyak, 21.3
Shooting Percentage: Courtney Goyak, 54.6% (179-of-328)
 
Regular Season Contests Recap: Lancaster Bible defeated Penn St. Abington twice this season, winning easily at Penn St. Abington in January and posting a fourth-quarter comeback win in February…In the first meeting, the Chargers led by 16 at halftime and took a 20-point lead at one point in the second half…Hickey and Goyak each went 11-of-14 from the field, as Hickey poured in 26 points and had five rebounds, while Goyak had 24 points and 20 rebounds…Senior Krissy Pennell had a career-high 15 assists in the win and also added 21 points…In the second matchup, Penn St. Abington led by one after three quarters and the game was tied at 58-58 with 5:17 to play…From there it was all Chargers as Lancaster Bible used a 14-2 run through the rest of regulation to down the Nittany Lions.
 
Penn St. Abington Notes: The Nittany Lions are 6-5 on the road this season, but just 2-4 in their past six games away from Abington, Pa…Penn St. Abington shoots just 36.4 percent from the field, but does a good job at getting to the free throw line most games as the Nittany Lions have attempted 20 or more free throws in a game eight times this season…Despite their 13 losses, the Nittany Lions have been in most games this season as they have five losses by 10 points or less…Shayna Rodriguez makes the Penn St. Abington engine run as she leads the team in points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game and shooting percentage.
 
Lancaster Bible Notes: Lancaster Bible is 9-3 at home this season…The Chargers are 5-2 at home all-time in the NEAC playoffs…Lancaster Bible is 2-0 all-time in NEAC Quarterfinal games as the Chargers defeated St. Elizabeth during the 2011-12 season and Wells during the 2014-15 campaign…Goyak continues to lead NCAA Division III in rebounds per game with 21.3…Pennell also leads NCAA Division III with 8.5 assists per game…In the two games against Penn St. Abington this season, the Chargers were +19 and +17 in rebounds…Lancaster Bible had 23 assists in the first game with the Nittany Lions and 18 in the second game…Pennell didn't play in the second game between the two teams.
 
Follow the Game: The game can be seen on the Chargers Sports Network beginning at 5:50 p.m.