The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team suffered its fifth straight loss on Wednesday night, as the Chargers lost to St. Elizabeth, 61-57 in Morristown, N.J. The Chargers are now 3-15 overall and 1-8 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while St. Elizabeth improved to 8-4 overall and 7-1 in conference action.
 
How it Happened: Both teams used early scoring runs to get their offenses going, as the game leveled off a bit after the opening few minutes. Leah Steiner and Mekenzie Smith scored on back-to-back possessions late in the opening quarter to cut the Chargers' deficit to one, 14-13, but a late bucket from the Eagles gave the home team a 16-13 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
Freshman Hope Hodges knocked down a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter to give the Chargers a 20-18 lead, and she hit another one two minutes later and extended Lancaster Bible's lead to 25-20. Caitlin Hickey's layup with just over a minute to play in the first half again gave the Chargers a five-point edge, 32-27, but a late 3-pointer from Kamille Jacobs cut Lancaster Bible's lead to 32-30 at the half.
 
Hickey scored the first five points of the third quarter, and her jumper with 7:59 to play gave Lancaster Bible a 37-30 advantage. Another 3-pointer from Hodges gave Lancaster Bible a 45-35 lead, and two free throws from Hickey extended the lead to 12 with under three minutes to play. A layup from senior Courtney Goyak grew the lead to 13 with 1:50 to play, but the Eagles wouldn't go away, and cut their deficit to 10 after 30 minutes of play.
 
For all of the good things the Chargers were able to produce offensively over the first 30 minutes, Lancaster Bible went cold from the floor in the final quarter, and St. Elizabeth took immediate advantage and used an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter to take a 56-55 lead with 5:05 remaining. Hickey converted a layup with 4:45 remaining to restore the Chargers' one-point lead, but it would be the final basket of the game for the Chargers, as St. Elizabeth tied the game and took the lead on two free throws from Jacobs with 1:09 to play. Lancaster Bible pressed to re-take the lead, but missed two shots and committed a turnover in the final minute, and lost for the fifth straight time.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the floor, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range…The Chargers were also 9-of-13 from the free throw line…St. Elizabeth shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the field, but just 4-of-19 from beyond the arc…Goyak led the Chargers with 17 points and 18 rebounds, and also had four steals…Hickey added 12 points, while Tilton had 12 points, four assists and five rebounds…Hope Hodges was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and finished with nine points…Kamille Jacobs led all scorers with 24 points for St. Elizabeth.
 
The Coach Says: "I thought we did some really good things offensively and defensively tonight," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "We had a great third quarter and built a solid lead, however St. Elizabeth started to pressure us more in the fourth quarter, and we struggled to score. We had a couple of chances at the end, but just couldn't execute."
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 13-4 all-time against St. Elizabeth…The Eagles defeated the Chargers, 57-49 on Dec. 1 in Lancaster…Goyak's double-double was her eighth of the season, and third straight…Lancaster Bible's 12 steals marked the fourth time the team has had double digit steals in a game this season.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible travels to Cazenovia on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off.