The Lancaster Bible College Women's Basketball team traveled east to face Penn St. Abington for the second time this season, losing by a score of 87-77. The Chargers drop to 5-14 overall and 3-5 in conference, while the Lady Lions improve to 9-12 overall and 5-3 in the United East.
 
How it Happened: Both teams went scoreless for the first two minutes until Abington broke the tie to go up 4-0. It was Faith Hammond that nailed a 3-pointer to put the Chargers on the board, then Shelby Gard hit a three of her own to make it a two-point deficit. With three minutes to play, Isabella Eufemia drew a foul for a three-point play to tie the game at 9-9, then the Lady Lions finished on a 9-3 run to go up 18-12 after one quarter.
 
It was Penn St. Abington once again that started strong in the second quarter, building up a lead as high as 15 in the quarter. Alaysha Iwais scored six in a row for the Chargers, then Jenna Dombach scored six over a two minute span to cut the deficit back to single-digits. Iwais and Gard added points late in the half, but it was the Lady Lions that held a 42-32 lead at halftime.
 
The two teams began the second half very even, with Abington maintaining a double-digit lead until Dombach hit a 3-pointer to make it 56-48 with 2:37 left in the third. Hammond finished a three-point play off a foul and Iwais made a layup to stay within eight points, playing good defense to close the quarter and enter the fourth down 61-53.
 
The Chargers found themselves down 14 just three minutes into the fourth quarter, but Raven Hunter's first two 3-pointers since November 29 and another three from Iwais brought LBC back within eight. Dombach and Hunter made layups to make the score 77-71, then Iwais drove to the basket for a tough layup to put the Chargers down just five points with two minutes to go. Fouls from Lancaster Bible put Abington on the line to push ahead, but Iwais sank a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game with 45 seconds remaining. Several missed shots cost the Chargers late as Abington triumphed at home 87-77.
 
By the Numbers:
- Abington held the advantage in most scoring categories, most notably in points in the paint (48-34) and second-chance points (26-21)
- The Chargers shot 27-80 (33.8%) from the field and 7-24 (29.2%) from behind the arc, while the Lady Lions shot 31-76 (40.8%) for the game and 5-22 (22.7%) from 3-point range
- Alaysha Iwais led the Chargers with 23 points, four assists, four rebounds, and 8-9 on free throws
- Jenna Dombach added 19 points and five rebounds with a perfect free throw % (5-5)
- Raven Hunter notched a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds
- The Lady Lions were led by Angela Sanders who had game-highs with 31 points and 19 rebounds
 
Information to Know: The Chargers are now 23-6 all-time against Penn St. Abington, splitting this season's series with the home team winning both games. Sophomore Raven Hunter added to her single-season blocks recorded with one swat today, bringing her to 43 blocks on the season. Senior Jenna Dombach entered the top-20 on the all-time scoring list today, now tied for 19^th in program history with 814 career points. Fellow senior Alaysha Iwais advanced to 4^th on the all-time assists list, passing Lauren Heliger ('13) with 350 career assists. Senior Faith Hammond reached 200 career points with eight in today's game.
 
Up Next: The Chargers return to the Horst Athletic Center on Tuesday, January 30 for a home bout with St. Mary's (Md.) at 7:00 p.m.