The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team overcame a 17-point halftime deficit on Wednesday night, and defeated Penn College, 75-69 at Horst Athletic Center. The wild win sends the Chargers to 6-11 overall this season and 4-4 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Wildcats fell to 4-12 overall and 1-7 in conference action.
 
How it Happened: The first quarter was close for the first five minutes, as Mikayla Via's 3-pointer brought the Chargers to within one at 8-7, but the Chargers were underwhelming the rest of the opening half. Penn College closed the opening quarter on 14-4 run and led 22-11 after 10 minutes of play, as Lydia Albert converted a layup with one second remaining for the Wildcats.
 
Lancaster Bible cut its deficit to nine early in the second quarter, but Penn College used a 10-0 run to take a 34-15 lead on a jumper from Madison Klock. Lancaster Bible's Lizzy Tilton snapped a five-minute scoreless stretch for the Chargers with 1:36 remaining, and she scored the final five points of the quarter for Lancaster Bible, as the home team trailed, 37-20 at the break.
 
The Chargers woke up during halftime, and raced out to a 7-0 run over the first 1:47 of the third quarter, as a 3-pointer from Via, followed by jumpers from Tilton and Alaysha Iwais, brought the Chargers back to within 10. Penn College restored a 12-point lead at 41-29, but Lancaster Bible went on an 11-1 run over a 2:30 span, and trailed just 42-40 after a jumper from Caitlin Hickey. Lydia Albert knocked down another 3-pointer for the Wildcats to give the visitors a five-point lead, and it eventually went to 46-40, but Lancaster Bible scored the next 10 points, as Hickey drained a 3-pointer, and Tilton was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and converted all three free throws to knot the game at 46-46. Iwais converted a layup to give Lancaster Bible a 48-46 lead, and she capped the run with a jumper with 1:37 remaining in the quarter to increase the advantage to four. Penn College's Tori Wolfe responded with a 3-pointer the next down the floor for the Wildcats, and the quarter ended with Lancaster Bible in front, 50-49, as the Chargers outscored the Wildcats, 30-12 in the third.
 
The fourth quarter went back-and-forth, as Penn College didn't get the memo about Lancaster Bible wanting to complete its comeback with relative ease. With the game tied at 60-60 with 4:20 to play, Penn College scored the next five points, the final three coming from Albert who drained her fifth 3-pointer of the night. Via hit a layup less than a minute later for the Chargers, and Tilton cut the deficit to one at 65-64 with two free throws.
 
Albert somehow got free again on the next possession and hit her sixth triple of the game, but Hickey hit a jumper on the next possession for the Chargers, and Lancaster Bible trailed, 68-66 with 1:48 to play. The score stayed the same until a minute later when Tilton knocked down a jumper to knot the score at 68-68. After the Chargers forced a turnover, Iwais was fouled and hit one of two free throws, but her miss on the second was rebounded by Tilton who was then fouled and drained two shots to give Lancaster Bible a 71-68 lead with 22 seconds to play.
 
After another Penn College turnover, Hickey was fouled and hit two free throws and effectively put the game away, as Lancaster Bible came the whole way back for one its craziest wins in recent memory.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 40.3 percent (27-of-67) from the floor, including 6-of-15 from 3-point range…The Chargers were also 15-of-22 from the free throw line, and shot nearly 50 percent from the field in the second half…Penn College shot 50 percent (23-of-46) from the field, and a terrific 10-of-15 from beyond the arc…Lancaster Bible held a 16-8 edge in offensive boards, and won the turnover battled, 24-13…The Chargers also held a 24-10 edge in points scored off turnovers…Tilton led the way with 26 points, a new career-high, as she was just 6-of-17 from the floor, but a tremendous 12-of-13 from the free throw line….Hickey, the reigning NEAC Player of the Week, also went for 20 points, and added six rebounds, five steals, and four assists…Via added 12 points and three assists, while Iwais had nine points, five boards, and five steals…Beers had eight points and seven boards…Lydia Albert had a team-high 24 points for the Wildcats.
 
The Coach Says: "We could've yelled at them at halftime and pointed out all of the mistakes from the opening 20 minutes, but instead, we talked about adjustments and fixes we needed to make, and told them we could win," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said of the team's halftime talk. "We started pressing and forced some turnovers that gave us easy baskets, and I thought that gave confidence to a few of our players, and we started chipping away at the deficit."
 
On the Fourth Quarter: "Tilton and Hickey led us over the final few minutes, because even though we had the big comeback in the third, we still got down by five late, but they gave our team the confidence we needed, and I think the close games we have been in lately have really helped us," Vanderhoff said.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 10-1 all-time against Penn College, and has won 10 straight against the Wildcats…The Chargers are 4-4 at home this season…This is Lancaster Bible's first three-game win streak of the season…The 15 made free throws are a season-high for the Chargers…Tilton's previous career high for made free throws in a game was five, which she did twice…The Chargers had 20 assists in a game for the second time this season…Lancaster Bible's 16 steals are a season high.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible returns to action on Saturday in Reading, Pa., as the Chargers battle Penn St. Berks at 3 p.m…The Nittany Lions defeated the Chargers, 63-59 in Lancaster on Jan. 15.