The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team won its sixth straight game on Saturday, defeating Penn St. Abington, 72-55 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers are now 12-7 overall and 10-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Nittany Lions dropped to 10-7 overall and 5-4 in NEAC action.
 
How it Happened: The Nittany Lions hit three straight 3-pointers on their opening three possessions and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Lancaster Bible began to chip away at its deficit and took its first lead of the game at 16-15 on a jumper from freshman Lizzy Tilton. A 3-pointer from senior Kirsten Webster late in the quarter gave the Chargers a 22-17 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
Lancaster Bible maintained its lead to the midway point of the second quarter, but a layup from Shayna Rodriguez gave the Nittany Lions a 28-27 lead with 6:40 to play in the half. The teams traded baskets from that point, and Symantha Marrero's 3-pointer with 34 seconds left in the half, gave the Nittany Lions a 36-34 advantage they would take into halftime.
 
The beginning of the third quarter played like the end of the second as the teams matched baskets, but Lancaster Bible began to get some separation midway through the quarter and took a five-point lead on a free throw from Webster with 4:11 remaining. Lancaster Bible's defense began to turn up the pressure a bit and the Chargers earned a 54-49 lead after 30 minutes of play.
 
The final quarter belonged to the Chargers, as they scored the first 12 points of the quarter, and put the game away. Tilton, sophomore Caitlin Hickey, and Webster connected for three straight buckets to open the run, while junior Courtney Goyak capped it with a pair of free throws. Lancaster Bible poured it on, leading by as many as 18 midway through the quarter, and a late jumper from Hickey helped the Chargers to a 17-point victory.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 29-of-64 (45.3 percent) from the floor, and 11-of-18 from the free throw line…Penn St. Abington was 21-of-63 (33.3 percent) from the field and 7-of-20 from beyond the arc…Hickey finished with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Goyak had 17 points, 22 rebounds and two steals…Webster added 18 points and three assists, while Tilton finished with six points and nine rebounds…Freshman Leah Steiner chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass…Rodriguez had a game-high 25 points for the Nittany Lions.
 
The Coach Says: "Our goal was to run and go from the start and try and wear them down," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "It worked offensively, but our defense took a while to show up and we ended up just trading baskets with them. In the second half we played much better defensively and our plan began to work, and we got some easy buckets."
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 14-5 all-time against the Nittany Lions and has defeated Penn St. Abington seven straight times…The Chargers are 6-4 at home this season…Lancaster  Bible has had 40 rebounds or more in six of its last seven games…Lancaster Bible's four blocks on Saturday were a season-high…Goyak is just 35 rebounds away from becoming the third player in program-history to eclipse 1,000 for her career.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible begins a three-game road trip on Wednesday, as the Chargers face Penn St. Berks in Reading, Pa. at 8 p.m.