The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball nearly picked up its first win of the season on Saturday night in St. Mary's City, Md., but couldn't complete the comeback, and lost to St. Mary's (Md.), 48-47. The loss drops the Chargers to 0-3 this season, while the Seahawks improved to 2-3.
 
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible led 3-0 nearly three minutes into the contest, but St. Mary's (Md.) scored on back-to-back trips down the floor, and led 5-3 less than a minute later. After a Jenna Dombach basket tied the game at 5-5, the Seahawks ended the quarter on an 11-2 run, and led the game 16-7 after 10 minutes of play.
 
St. Mary's (Md.) scored the first six points of the second quarter as well, and led 22-7 just over two minutes into the second frame. The Lancaster Bible defense stepped up in the middle part of the quarter, and a bucket from Lizzy Tilton, followed by a 3-pointer from Hope Hodges cut the Chargers' deficit to 24-15 with 2:40 to play in the half. The offense sputtered for the Chargers in the final three minutes however, and St. Mary's (Md.) led 29-15 at the break.
 
The Chargers' slumping offense woke up in the third quarter, and with the score 33-20 in favor of St. Mary's (Md.) with 7:09 to play in the quarter, Lancaster Bible used 12-2 run the rest of the quarter to trail by just three, 35-32, after 30 minutes of play. Adalyn Steiner had six points during the run, while Paige Towne and Hodges added three points each.
 
Lancaster Bible cut its deficit to one on a Tenia Brown layup early in the fourth quarter, but St. Mary's (Md.) rebounded and took a 43-35 lead with 6:50 to play.  The Seahawks lead grew to 10 with 4:45 remaining, but Lancaster Bible slowly chipped away again, as Steiner and Dombach converted back-to-back layups to make it a 47-41 game with 4:14 left. After a free throw from St. Mary's (Md.), Dombach had a basket, followed by two free throws a minute apart from Towne. Another layup from Dombach with 1:19 to play cut the Chargers' deficit to one, 48-47, but Lancaster Bible missed three shots down the stretch, and narrowly missed completing the comeback.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 17-of-49 (34.7 percent) from the field, but just 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range, and 11-of-22 from the free throw line…St. Mary's (Md.) was 17-of-62 (27.4 percent) from the floor, and 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from beyond the arc…The Seahawks were also just 9-of-18 from the free throw line…Lancaster Bible dominated the boards, outrebounding St. Mary's (Md.), 52-31…The Seahawks however committed just eight turnovers, while the Chargers turned it over 24 times…Dombach led Lancaster Bible with 14 points and also added two steals…Steiner had 11 points and 10 rebounds…Tilton had six points and 10 rebounds, while Towne had five points and 10 rebounds…Hodges added six points, four rebounds, and three assists…Kendra Stamper had 11 points to lead the Seahawks.
 
The Coach Says: "I thought we settled down and settled in nicely to begin the second half, and our mentality was to cut into our deficit," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Joy Tharrington said. "We did that and did it quickly and gave ourselves a chance to win. I thought our fight was there, we just need to protect the basketball better, and execute a few more things. I thought it was a nice bounce-back game for us after Thursday's contest and we will look to build off of this."
 
News & Notes: Saturday marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools…This game was originally scheduled for later in the season, but was moved after Lancaster Bible's games with Southern Virginia were canceled…The Chargers and Seahawks are scheduled to play in Lancaster on Feb. 23…Steiner's double-double was the first of her career…Towne's 10 rebounds were a career-high.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible is back on the floor next Saturday when the Chargers travel to Salisbury, Md. to take on Salisbury at 1 p.m.