The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team rolled to a 65-53 victory in their 2022-23 home opener versus the Lions of Bryn Athyn College on Wednesday night. This was the Chargers' first home opening win since the 2018-19 season and begins this year with their first two wins. The Chargers move to 2-0 overall while the Lions are 1-1 to start the year.
 
How It Happened: The Lions jumped out of the gate early to an early 4-0 lead just 2:30 into the game. Senior Adalyn Steiner was the first to put the Chargers on the board with a jumper of her own. Freshman Irene Were tied it up at 4-4 with a layup just five minutes into the first period. Another Steiner bucket with 14 seconds left gave the Chargers an 11-10 lead at the end of the first period.
 
The second period began the same way, but the Chargers started to pull away behind the paint dominance of sophomore Jade Eshelman and her seven second period points. The Chargers ended the first half with a 28-22 lead.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Chargers continued their offensive momentum, pushing the lead to as much as fifteen points in the third period. Entering the fourth period, the Chargers kept the same energy, keeping the Lions at an arm's distance behind the likes of Eshelman, Steiner, and Sydney Heller.
 
The gritty performance from Eshelman and the Chargers helped them achieve their second win of the season in a 65-53 victory.
 
From the Coach: "This was a gutty win for us against a tough and physical Bryn Athyn team. Though we didn't shoot the ball well overall, I thought we did a good job knocking down free throws, controlling the boards, and sticking to our game plan.  We are glad to have Faith and Shelby back as they played critical minutes and are proud of the individual performance of Jade. She carried us in scoring and rebounding and we needed both tonight." – Head Coach Joy Tharrington
 
By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 34% (21-61) from the field and an impressive 90% (18-20) from the free throw line… the Chargers had 30 points in the paint and 19 bench points… sophomore Jade Eshelman scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed a monster 16 rebounds… senior Adalyn Steiner added 12 points… Keerah Henry and Terrae Lewis led the Lions with 12 and 10 points respectively.
 
Information to Know: The victory tonight gives the Chargers a 2-0 start to the 2022-23 season, the first time since 2012 that the Chargers have started the season with two wins.
 
Up Next: The Chargers remain at home this weekend to battle against Eastern Mennonite University at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 19^th.