The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team won its fifth straight game on Wednesday night, defeating Penn St. Abington, 72-60 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers are now 16-5 overall and 15-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Nittany Lions dropped to 9-11, 7-8 NEAC.

How it Happened: Penn St. Abington opened the scoring, but the Chargers went on a 7-0 run over 1:24 and took a 7-3 lead with 7:26 to play in the opening quarter. The Nittany Lions slowly chipped away at Lancaster Bible's lead and took a lead of their own, 12-11 after a three-point play from Marah Hayes with 4:57 left in the first. The Chargers responded and went on a 9-2 run to end the quarter and led 20-14 after 10 minutes of play.

Lancaster Bible maintained its lead through the second quarter, leading by as many as seven with 2:24 left in the half after a 3-pointer by freshman Kaylee Boger. Another jumper from sophomore Courtney Goyak with 1:11 remaining gave Lancaster Bible a 35-30 lead which they would take with them into halftime.

The third quarter, where the Chargers have struggled all season long, proved to be rough again as the Nittany Lions wore down the Chargers and ended the final 2:02 of the quarter on a 8-0 run to take a 48-47 lead after 30 minutes of play. While Hayes controlled the game for the Nittany Lions in the first half, the third quarter belonged to Symantha Marrero who had 12 of Abington's 18 points in the quarter. 

Lancaster Bible proved why it has won the NEAC South Division for four straight years however in the fourth quarter as the Chargers were up for every challenge the Nittany Lions had. The teams traded baskets for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and after two free throws from Hayes with 5:17 to play, the game was knotted at 58-58. From that point on however, it was all Chargers as Lancaster Bible got contributions from everyone on the roster and used a 14-2 run to end the game. 

Freshman Caitlin Hickey converted a layup to give Lancaster Bible a 60-58 lead and just over a minute later, Boger knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the game to give the Chargers a five-point lead. Sophomore Sara Bell, who had her best game of the season, followed with a layup and then hit two free throws on the following possession to give Lancaster Bible a 67-58 advantage with 52 seconds left. Four free throws from junior Kirsten Webster and another by Hickey, sealed the victory and sent the Chargers to their fifth straight victory.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from the floor and 6-of-13 from 3-point range...Abington shot 30.8 percent (20-of-65) and just 6-of-27 from beyond the arc...Hickey led Lancaster Bible with 21 points, eight assists and four rebounds to go with three steals...Goyak finished with 20 points and 29 rebounds, while Webster had 14 points and three assists...Boger was the other Lancaster Bible player in double figures as she had 12 points and five rebounds...Hayes led all scorers with 25 points and also added nine rebounds.

The Coach Says: "Team was the theme tonight," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "We faced some adversity and just kept going. We talk a lot about how in life and basketball you are going to face situations that are tough and you have to choose how you are going to respond. Tonight we faced that and we kept going. We found a way to win and it was different people stepping up at different times and it was great to see."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 12-5 all-time against Penn St. Abington and has won five straight games against the Nittany Lions...Penn St. Abington was a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line...Lancaster Bible now has 15 conference wins for the fifth straight season...In that span only one other NEAC school has two seasons of 15 wins and that is SUNY Polytechnic...Wednesday was Goyak's 10th game with 20+ points and 20+ rebounds...Webster has back-to-back games with 14 points...Hickey and Boger have combined for 80 of Lancaster Bible's 99 3-pointers this season...The Chargers are 9-2 at home this season.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible travels north on Route 222 on Saturday to face Penn St. Berks in Reading, Pa...Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.