The Lancaster Bible College women's basketball team got a road victory over Penn St. Berks on Tuesday evening, winning by a score of 72-50. The Chargers improve to 13-10 overall and 8-7 in United East play, while the Lions fall to 2-18 overall and 2-12 in conference action.

How it Happened: The Chargers got on the board first as the senior duo of Mikayla Via and Adalyn Steiner connected as Steiner hit a layup. Via scored the next seven points for the red and black as she hit two layups and drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Jenna Dombach to extend the lead to 9-2. Later in the quarter, freshman Irene Were sunk a layup off an offensive rebound, then Alaysha Iwais drew a foul on a fast break and made a free throw to extend the lead to 10. The last score of the quarter came on a 3-point make by Steiner, with the Chargers leading 15-2 after 10 minutes. 
 
Iwais got the scoring started in the second quarter with a layup, then Steiner added one to stretch the lead to 17 points. Iwais later drew a foul on a 3-point attempt and sunk all three shots from the line to give LBC a 24-5 advantage. Berks went on a quick seven-point run to trim the lead to 12, but Via and Dombach each made 3-pointers to extend it back to 30-14. The Chargers closed on a 6-1 run behind transition buckets from Were and Sydney Heller, taking a 36-15 lead into halftime.
 
Via got the second-half scoring started for Lancaster with a 3-pointer, then Steiner floated in a turnaround jumper to make the score 41-20. Penn St. Berks went on a seven-point run to cut into the lead, but Via found Were down low for a layup to push the lead back to 17. Steiner later hit back-to-back 3-pointers, both off of assists from Iwais, and helped the Chargers carry a 55-38 lead into the final period.
 
Steiner found Dombach for a 3-pointer less than a minute into the fourth, extending the lead to 20 points. Steiner scored five in a row for the Chargers later in the quarter, surpassing the 20-pt mark for the game. Heller drained a 3-ball for what would be the last bucket of the game as the Chargers finished off a 72-50 victory in Reading, Pa.


By the Numbers

• The Chargers were 40.6% (26-64) for the game and 39.3% (11-28) on 3-pointers, going 75% (9-12) on free throws.
• The Lions shot 34.5% (19-55) from the field and 40% (6-15) from 3-point range, shooting 6-10 from the free throw line.
• Lancaster Bible had 16 bench points and just 10 turnovers, tied for the second-lowest mark of the season.
• Adalyn Steiner led all players with 22 points and drained a career-high four 3-pointers, adding two steals as well.
• Mikayla Via scored 13 points and shot 3-5 on 3-pointers, adding five rebounds and three assists.
• Alaysha Iwais dished a game-high six assists and added 12 points.
• The Lions were led by Lyla Spencer who had 15 points.
• Lancaster Bible's seniors (Steiner and Via) accounted for almost half of the team's points tonight (35 pts).

 
Information to Know: The Chargers improve to 17-5 all-time against Penn St. Berks and have won five consecutive matchups against the Lions, including a 75-46 win in the Horst Athletic Center earlier this season on January 7. Junior guard Alaysha Iwais dished six assists tonight to bring her career total to 255, becoming just the seventh player in program history to record 250+ assists for the Chargers. Iwais' 108 assists lead the United East this season and are a top-40 mark in all of NCAA Division III this season, and are the 6th-most in a single season in program history. Jenna Dombach connected on three assists tonight, moving her into 14^th all-time in total assists with 149. Adalyn Steiner recorded her second career 20-point game as she scored a game-high 22 for the Chargers, and her 10.8 points/game this season are 9th in the conference.

Up Next: The women's basketball team will play their final regular season game with a shot to make the playoffs on Saturday, February 18^th as they host Penn St. Abington at 1:00 p.m.