The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team dropped back to the .500 mark on Friday evening, falling to St. Vincent, 81-45 in the opening game of the Hampton Inn Tip-Off Classic at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. The loss drops the Chargers to 2-2 this season, while St. Vincent improves to 2-1.
 
Game Recap: Lancaster Bible trailed the Bearcats, 7-2 midway through the opening quarter, but a jumper from Caitlin Hickey cut the Chargers' deficit to three, and a 3-pointer from Hope Hodges at 4:38 tied the game at 7-7. The Chargers took an 8-7 lead late in the quarter on a free throw from Hickey, but a 3-pointer from Taylor Boring with 11 seconds gave St. Vincent a 10-8 lead, and the Bearcats would never trail again.
 
St. Vincent opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run over the first 2:12, but another 3-pointer from Hodges cut the Chargers' deficit to seven, 20-13 with 5:51 remaining in the half. A layup from Hickey would bring the Chargers to within six, 23-17, but the Bearcats scored 16 of the final 18 points of the quarter, and led 35-19 at the break.
 
The third quarter looked a lot like the second, as the Bearcats outscored the Chargers, 28-12, and took a commanding 63-31 lead after 30 minutes. Lancaster Bible played better in the fourth quarter, despite the game being fairly well decided, as Christine Graves, Leah Steiner, and Becca Lucente had buckets for the Chargers.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 36.4 percent (16-of-44) from the floor, but just 3-of-12 from beyond the arc, and 10-of-19 from the free throw line…St. Vin cent shot 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the field, including 9-of-26 from 3-point range…Hickey led the Chargers with 15 points, and also added three rebounds and three assists…Hodges finished with 10 points, while Courtney Goyak had seven points and 12 rebounds…Steiner added five points, while Graves and Lizzy Tilton each had two points and three boards.
 
The Coach Says: "We started the game off well defensively, but their athleticism caught up to us in the second quarter, and we struggled to stay with them," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "St. Vincent is a dynamic team that can shoot the ball and drive to the basket. I thought our effort was much better in the second half, but we couldn't climb out of the hole we dug ourselves in."
 
Information Hodge Podge: Friday was the first meeting between the two schools…Lancaster Bible is 0-2 away from Horst Athletic Center this season…The Chargers are shooting just 19.7 percent from beyond the arc this season (12-of-61)…Lancaster Bible is outscoring its opponents, 65-46 in the first quarter of games this season, but is being outscored, 70-52 in the second quarter of games.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will face Wesley in the Consolation Game of tournament on Saturday at 1 p.m.