The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team dropped a tough United East matchup on the road to St. Mary's (Md.) by a score of 74-57 on Wednesday night. The Chargers drop to 10-6 overall and 5-3 in United East play, while the Seahawks improve to 10-6 overall and 6-2 in conference action.

How it Happened: The Seahawks won the tip and scored on their first possession, but a jumper from senior Mikayla Via and a 3-pointer from Shelby Gard gave the Chargers an early 5-3 lead. Shortly after, Via found Alaysha Iwais for a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 10-3 and cap a 10-pt spurt for LBC. St. Mary's (Md.) put together an eleven-point run of their own to take the lead back before Gard drained another 3 to cut the lead to one at 13-14. The Seahawks closed the quarter with seven in a row, leading 21-14 after 10 minutes of play.

Neither team could score in the first minute of period two until they traded quick buckets, with Via knocking down a jumper to keep the deficit at seven. It was all Seahawks until the six-minute mark when Jenna Dombach hit a jumper to make the score 18-29. Sydney Heller had assists on back-to-back trips down the court to Adalyn Steiner and Heller hit a pair of free throws after a strong drive to match the St. Mary's (Md.) offense. Dombach connected on a 3-pointer late in the quarter, then the Seahawks' Stephanie Howell hit a jumper for a game-high 15 first-half points to help the home team lead at halftime, 40-28

The Seahawks scored the first four of the second half before Iwais hit a pair of free throws, then connected on a 3-pointer two minutes later to trim the lead back to twelve. Steiner connected on a 3-ball to cut the deficit to eleven, but the Seahawks responded with eight straight points to lengthen the lead. Iwais finished a strong drive to the basket and hit the and-1 free throw to help bring the lead down to 14 at the end of the period.

Irene Were helped the Chargers start strong in the fourth quarter, finishing a layup and getting to the line twice to trip the Seahawk lead to just 10 with 8:28 to play. Heller knocked down a corner three to make the score 50-60, then St. Mary's (Md.) scored the next five in an attempt to finally pull away from the visitors. Iwais had a breakaway layup to stay within 10, but the Seahawks hit three consecutive jumpers that would be the final strokes for a strong St. Mary's (Md.) win.

From the Coach: "Our glaring weakness this evening was our inability to get stops on defense. Credit St Mary's for shooting the ball really well tonight, especially in the first half, but we struggled to guard in man or zone. We will make adjustments  moving forward and look to grow in our ability to compete well while maintaining composure, with urgency, for 40 minutes." - Head Coach Joy Tharrington

By the Numbers

- The Chargers shot 34.5% (19-55) from the field and 36.8% (7-19) from 3-point range, also shooting 66.7% on free throws (12-18).

- The Seahawks shot 43.6% (24-55) for the game and 41.2% (7-17) on 3-pointers, making 73.1% of their free throws (19-26).

- Lancaster Bible won the rebounding battle, 36-34 and the two teams both had nine second chance points

- Alaysha Iwais led the Chargers with 16 points and had five rebounds

- Adalyn Steiner had nine points, six rebounds and three assists

- Seahawks guard Karon Williams led all scorers with 29 points on 10-23 shooting, while Stephanie Howell also had 20+ points with 21 and added a game-high 12 rebounds
 

Information to Know: Lancaster Bible is now 1-4 all-time against St. Mary's (Md.), with their last matchup ending in a 57-44 home win for the Chargers. Iwais' 16 points are a season-high and she recorded her first block of the season in the fourth quarter. The Chargers have lost back-to-back road games and are now 6-4 on the road after starting 4-1 away from the Horst Athletic Center.

Up Next: The women's basketball team will return home on Saturday, January 28th for an important matchup against Penn St. Harrisburg with a tip-off time of 1:00 p.m.