The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team won its fourth straight game on Sunday afternoon, defeating Eastern Mennonite, 63-54 in Harrisonburg, Va. The Chargers are now 6-1 this season, while the Royals fell to 6-5, as Lancaster Bible defeated Eastern Mennonite for the first time in program history.
How it Happened: The teams struggled offensively to begin the contest, as Lancaster Bible led just 4-2 midway through the opening quarter. Both teams picked up the pace in the latter stages of the first quarter, as Alaysha Iwais' layup with 1:43 remaining cut the Chargers' deficit to 12-10. After the Royals extended their lead to 16-11, Mikayla Via converted a layup with six seconds to play to trim the Eastern Mennonite to three, 16-13, after 10 minutes of play.
Baskets by Iwais and Adalyn Steiner were the only buckets for the Chargers in the opening 5:32 of the second quarter, though Eastern Mennonite went cold from the floor again as well. Two free throws with 4:28 remaining in the quarter by Sydney Heller gave Lancaster Bible a 19-18 lead, but the Royals regained 24 seconds later on a 3-pointer by Lauryn Moore. Heller converted back-to-back layups late in the half for the Chargers, but Eastern Mennonite ended the half on a 4-0 run to take a 27-25 advantage into the break.
Lancaster Bible used a 12-2 run in the opening five minutes of the third quarter to open an eight-point advantage, 37-29. Iwais' 3-pointer capped the run, but the Royals used a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to close the gap to one. Lancaster Bible answered with a 7-0 run of its own, as Irene Were, Jenna Dombach, and Heller had baskets to give the Chargers a 44-36 lead after 30 minutes of play.
The Chargers grew their lead to 13 early in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer from Via and free throws from Steiner, however the Royals answered with another 7-0 run to cut Lancaster Bible's lead to 51-45 with 4:03 to play. Dombach scored five straight points for Lancaster Bible to send the advantage back to double digits, and Lancaster Bible held off any other scoring runs by the Royals, and won, 63-54.
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field, including 26.1 percent (6-of-26) from 3-point range…The Chargers were also 7-of-8 from the free throw line…Eastern Mennonite shot 32.8 percent (21-of-64) from the floor, and just 25 percent (4-of-16) from beyond the arc…Eastern Mennonite also shot 8-of-16 from the free throw line…Dombach led the Chargers with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and added five rebounds…Heller chipped in with 12 points, while Steiner had 11 points and eight boards…Iwais had seven points, five assists, and five rebounds, while Via also had seven points. Were had two points and 10 rebounds…Glymph Laila had 20 points to pace the Royals.
The Coach Says: I am so incredibly proud of our effort and resillience this afternoon," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Joy Tharrington said. "Even though we only achieved one of our statistical goals (out-rebounding Eastern Mennonite), there were a lot of things we did well that will not be reflected in the stats. Not having Jade [Eshelman] was a challenge for us, but the girls did a phenomenal job being flexible and outworking mistakes. It was also good to see Jenna break out today and hit timely shots when we needed them the most."
Information to Know: Lancaster Bible is now 1-4 all-time against Eastern Mennonite…Sunday's game was originally scheduled for November 19 in Lancaster, but was postponed due to a water main break near the Lancaster Bible campus…Dombach's 24 points are a new career-high, breaking her previous mark of 22 which she scored on March 1, 2021 at Cairn…Were's 10 rebounds are a career-high…Iwais has five or more assists in five of Lancaster Bible's seven games this season.
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will play its final game of 2022 next Saturday at Hood…Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. in Frederick, Md.
