Lancaster, Pa. - The Lancaster Bible College Women's Basketball team notched their first United East win of the season on Saturday afternoon, rallying in the second half to beat Penn St. Abington 73-67. The Chargers move to 3-10 overall and 1-2 in United East play, while the Lady Lions drop to 5-9 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
 
How it Happened: The Chargers struggled out of the gate, missing their first eight shots while Abington raced to a 10-0 lead behind good 3-point shooting. Alaysha Iwais got the Chargers on the board three minutes in, then Rachel Nolt stepped into a jumper to cut the early deficit to six. The Lady Lions launched another big run of eight points to go up 18-5, but senior Faith Hammond drained a 3-pointer and made a pair of free throws to help LBC stay in it, then Jenna Dombach hit a three to end the first quarter with Abington leading 22-15.
 
Iwais and Natalie Wenger helped bring the deficit down to just four early in the second, then a pair of free throws from Nolt made it just a one-point affair with less than five minutes in the first half. Raven Hunter had a pair of blocks in the quarter that slowed down the Lady Lion offense and Dombach hit her second three of the game. The quarter saw both teams score 18 points as Wenger hit a layup with time expiring to send the game into halftime with the Chargers trailing 40-33.
 
The Lady Lions came out of the half strong, scoring six straight and putting the margin back to double-digits. Abington led by as much as 16 in the third quarter with the Chargers struggling to generate offense, scoring just 11 in the quarter. Dombach and Iwais both hit threes late in the period, but LBC trailed 59-44 with just ten minutes to go.
 
A bucket one minute into the fourth quarter saw LBC trailing by 17 points, but that's where the Chargers began to find their footing, with Iwais scoring five in a row to kick off a big scoring run. Dombach knocked down back-to-back threes to energize the bench cut the lead all the way down to four, then she made a contested layup off an assist from Iwais, hitting the free throw to give the Chargers their first lead of the game at 62-61 and capping off an 18-point scoring run. The Lady Lions began going bucket-for-bucket with LBC, but some strong free throw shooting down the stretch for the Chargers made all the difference as they were able to complete the comeback and claim their first United East victory of the season.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers led in points off turnovers 23-20 and snagged 13 steals to the Lady Lions' 10
- The Chargers shot 22-64 (34.4%) from the field and 21-31 (67.7%) at the free throw line, while the Lady Lions shot 24-78 (30.8%) for the game and 14-17 (82.4%) from the line
- Alaysha Iwais filled the stat sheet with a career-high 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and 8-8 on free throws
- Jenna Dombach also had 24 points with five three point makes
- Faith Hammond added seven points, four rebounds, and three steals
- Angela Sanders led the way for the Lady Lions, posting a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds
 
From the Coach: "We didn't play all particularly that great today but we never stopped believing even when we were down 15 to start the 4th quarter.  Got some BIG TIME stops to start the 4th that got us within striking distance and gave us a chance.  Then we were able to get to line  bunch and score with the clock stopped which is always helpful in a comeback.  So proud of the will to win our team showed tonight and how we did it TOGETHER!" - Head Coach Ryan Carpenter 

Information to Know: The Chargers are now 23-7 all-time against Penn St. Abington and have won eight straight contests over the Lady Lions dating back to 2019. Lancaster Bible's 17-point comeback marks the largest deficit overcome this season. Senior Alaysha Iwais scored a career-high 24 points and also entering the top-25 in program history and crossing the 700-point mark with 709 points. Fellow senior Jenna Dombach moved into 11^th all-time in total assists with three today, putting her at 180 for her career. Dombach also reached 250 career rebounds and 100 made free throws in today's contest. Sophomore transfer Raven Hunter has been tearing it up on the defensive end, already reaching 8^th-place all-time with 29 blocks in her short Charger career. Hunter has passed both Meredith Wrightson ('10) and Courtney Goyak ('19) as she is averaging over two blocks per game. Freshman Rachel Nolt crossed 100 points on the season with five today.
 
Up Next: The Chargers have another home game on Wednesday, January 10 as they host Penn College for a United East contest at 7:00 p.m.