The Lancaster Bible College Women's Basketball team competed in their second game of the Terry Greene Tip-Off Tournament against the Neumann Knights on Sunday. The Knights defeated the Chargers 64-56. The Chargers fall to 1-2 overall as they enter the second week of the regular season while the Knights improve to 3-0 overall.
 
How It Happened: The Chargers began the game ahead thanks to a layup from freshman Raven Hunter. The Knights responded with a bucket of their own to tie the game at 2-2 just a minute in. Another score from fellow freshman Rachel Nolt put the Chargers on top again, but the Knights regained the lead just twenty seconds later and didn't give it up for the remainder of the game.
 
The Chargers' defense tightened in the last minute, holding the opposing team scoreless, but the Knights were able to keep a seven-point lead headed into the second quarter. Opening the second quarter of play, the Knights jumped out to an 11-point lead, but a free throw from Natalie Wenger and a three-pointer from Hunter brought the deficit back to seven. The Knights continued to respond to each score from the Chargers as they got out to 12 points lead with 2:49 left in the half. The Chargers' offense didn't shy away as they poured in six points in just two minutes of play, started by a three-point field goal from Alaysha Iwais, that kept the deficit to six points at halftime.
 
The third period was much the same as the Chargers kept pace offensively, but the Knights responded to each run with the lead growing to as much as nine points in the middle of the third quarter. Facing crunch time, the Chargers defense and senior Jenna Dombach stepped up big as she poured in nine straight points to tie the game at 40-40 with 1:12 left in the third quarter. This was the first time the score had been tied since 5:27 in the first quarter.
 
Following the late rally, Dombach and Hunter worked hard to keep the Knights close, staying within two to four points of the lead. It was with 3:39 that back-to-back layups from the Knights followed by free throws gave the Knights their largest lead of the game. The Knights went on to win 64-56 in a hard-fought non-conference match.

From the Coach: "Was really proud of how we executed the game plan. We handled their pressure well and made Neumann fall back out of their press and we made them run different actions than they wanted to coming into the game. We shot 29% on non 3 pt attempts and they shot 49% on non 3 pt attempts so ultimately it came down to they converted their shots in the paint and we didn't." - Head Coach Ryan Carpenter
  
By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 33 percent (20-60) from the field going 43 percent (7-16) from beyond the arc and 56 percent (9-16) from the charity stripe… the Knights shot 42 percent (26-61) from the field and finished 27 percent (5-18) from three-point land… the Knights won the battle in the paint 36-20, but the Chargers grabbed 19 points off their turnovers… Dombach led the Chargers with 21 points and five assists while Hunter finished with 15 points and nine rebounds… Eufemia finished with nine points and five rebounds… Lauren Klieber led all scorers with 27 points and nine rebounds.

Information to Know: The Chargers are now 1-5 all-time against Neumann, with their first win coming on the road last season on November 30. Lancaster Bible has allowed just 52.3 points per game through three games this season, their best three-game start on defense since the 2018-19 season. Senior guard Alaysha Iwais recorded her 100th career steal in the 3rd quarter tonight.
 
Up Next: Looking for their second win of the season, the Chargers travel to Huntingdon, Pa. on Tuesday, November 14 to square off against Juniata. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m.