The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team used a second half offensive explosion to turn a four-point halftime lead into a 31-point victory, as the Chargers defeated Penn College, 79-46 on Saturday at Horst Athletic Center. The victory moves the Chargers to 8-7 overall this season, and 6-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while Penn College falls to 1-11 overall and 0-4 in conference action.

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible dominated the first quarter, as the Chargers led, 9-2 just 3:21 into the contest. The Chargers eventually led, 16-9, as sophomore Caitlin Hickey scored 11 of the team's first 16 points. Penn College closed the gap to 16-10 with 3:46 to play in the opening quarter, but Lancaster Bible used an 8-0 run the rest of the quarter to grab a 24-10 advantage after 10 minutes.

The Chargers sandwiched two buckets around a Penn College basket to open the second quarter and led, 28-12 with 8:23 left in the half, but it was downhill for the rest of the quarter for Lancaster Bible following the bucket by Hickey. Penn College went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes, and trailed just 28-23 after a three-point play from Jane Herman. Lancaster Bible's lead was eventually cut to one, 30-29, with under a minute to play, but three late free throws, one by sophomore RuthAnn Hostetler and two by senior Kirsten Webster, gave the Chargers a 33-29 edge at halftime.

For all of the hand-wringing and head-scratching the second quarter produced for the Chargers, the third quarter was a thing of beauty for Lancaster Bible, as they outscored the Wildcats by 19. Sophomore Kaylee Boger knocked down a 3-pointer on the Chargers' second possession of the quarter, as did Hickey two minutes later, to give the Chargers a 41-33 advantage. Junior Courtney Goyak, plagued by foul trouble in the first half, dominated the third quarter, and scored the final seven points for Lancaster Bible, as the Chargers took a 58-35 lead into the fourth quarter.

Freshman Leah Steiner scored six straight points for the Chargers in the fourth quarter, the final three coming on her first 3-pointer of the season that gave Lancaster Bible a 74-43 lead. Sophomore Becca Lucente got into the action as well, knocking down her first 3-pointer of the season with 56 seconds to play to give the Chargers a 77-46 advantage.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 27-of-64 (42.2 percent) from the floor and 19-of-25 from the free throw line...The Wildcats were 17-of-59 (28.8 percent) from the field, though just 4-of-25 from 3-point range...Webster led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while she was also 7-of-8 from the free throw line...Hickey added 18 points and a season-high eight rebounds, while Goyak had 15 points and 15 rebounds to go with three steals...Steiner finished with eight points and five boards and Boger had six points, three rebounds and three assists...Cassi Kuhns had a team-high 15 points for the Wildcats.

The Coach Says: "Foul trouble hurt us a bit today in the first half and we stopped being aggressive, but we had some players step up at different times and got the win," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "Our bench provided some good minutes in the first half and came up with stops and got us some points on the offensive side, and then the "Big 3" carried us for parts as well. It was another good team win and you can tell the team has confidence."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 7-1 all-time against Penn College...The game was delayed one hour due to hazardous travel in Northern Pennsylvania this morning...Webster needs just 20 points to become the 11th player in program history with 1,000 points...Goyak had 15 points and 13 rebounds in just 14 minutes of play in the second half...Webster's seven made free throws give her 106 made free throws this season, the most in NCAA Division III...Saturday marked the fifth time this season the Chargers have knocked down six or more 3-pointers in a game.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Keuka on Sunday at 2 p.m...The Wolves, one of the best teams in the NEAC, defeated Penn St. Abington, 66-55 on Saturday and are now 10-2 overall and 5-1 in NEAC play.