The Lancaster Bible College Women's Basketball team suffered an 85-69 loss against the fourth-seeded St. Mary's (Md) on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the United East Playoffs, seeing their 2023-24 campaign come to a close. The Chargers finish at 8-17 overall with a 6-6 conference record, while the Seahawks improve to 14-11 overall and 6-6 in conference and advance to the Volt Division Semifinals on Monday.
 
How it Happened: The Seahawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Rachel Nolt hit a deep two to get the Chargers on the board. The Seahawks then launched on a 12-point run that saw its end on a pair of Natalie Wenger free throws to make the score 19-6, then a St. Mary's (Md.) three made it a 16-point deficit. The Chargers trailed by as much as 20 points in the first quarter and Nolt and Alaysha Iwais hit baskets in the final minute to cut it to 28-12 after one period.
 
Senior Jenna Dombach scored first in the second quarter on an and-one layup, finishing the three-point play to cut it to 13 a minute in. Iwais proceeded to hit a three to make it a 10-point game, then she later found Nolt twice on a layup and a 3-pointer to cut the lead to just six points at 37-31. The Seahawks responded with back-to-back deep shots to bring the lead back to double-digits, but the Chargers won the quarter as they trailed by just 13 points at halftime at 45-32.
 
The teams traded points early in the third quarter with Dombach and Wenger finding the hoop, but St. Mary's (Md.) opened up their largest lead of the game at 57-36 with under seven minutes left in the third. Both teams went scoreless for the next two-plus minutes until Iwais found Dombach off an inbound play for an and-one layup for her sixth assist of the game. The Seahawks built the lead back up to 20, but Iwais, Nolt, and Shelby Gard all scored in the final minute to reduce the lead to 15 at 65-50 with 10 minutes remaining.
 
The deficit remained a double-digit one for the first five minutes of the fourth, with Dombach converting a layup to make it 69-59. After Iwais knocked down a jumper, it was Gard that finished through contact for a two-point basket and the point after to cut the lead to just seven points. Less than 20 seconds later, Nolt knocked down a 3-pointer to get LBC within five points at 72-67 with just three minutes to go, but good free throw shooting from the Seahawks and a slew of misses from the Chargers led to a 16-point defeat for Lancaster Bible on the road.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers led in fast-break points 10-8 and in offensive rebounds 20-15, while the Seahawks had more second-chance points (22-16) and points in the paint (34-28)
- The Chargers shot 25-78 (32.1%) from the field and 16-19 (84.2%) from the free throw line, while the Seahawks shot 30-67 (44.8%) for the game and 16-25 (64%) from the charity stripe
- Rachel Nolt led the Chargers with her sixth double-double of the season, posting 19 points and 10 rebounds
- Senior Alaysha Iwais had a game-high six assists to go along with 17 points and two steals
- Jenna Dombach added 14 points and Shelby Gard had nine points with a 5-5 clip from the line
- The Seahawks were led by Tramarie Mobray with a game-high 21 points, eight rebounds, and four assists
 
Information to Know: This was the Chargers' first playoff game since the 2019-20 season and their first postseason matchup with St. Mary's (Md.). This was the 16^th time this season that the Chargers had three players reaching double-figure scoring (Nolt, Iwais, Dombach). Elimination from the playoffs sadly means that the careers of the four seniors (Alaysha Iwais, Shelby Gard, Faith Hammond, Jenna Dombach) have come to a close. Iwais finishes her Charger career with the 18^th-most points in program history with 885 and grabbed 395 rebounds. Alaysha racked up the second-most assists in program history over her four years with 368 assists, reaching 100+ assists in two seasons and adding the ninth-most 3-pointers in the program with 86. Jenna Dombach finished with 911 career points, the 17^th player to reach that threshold and finishing with 365 points in 2023-24, the 12^th player to reach 360 points in a single season. Dombach also dished 207 career assists, one of 11 players in Charger history to reach 200 assists. In addition to 303 total rebounds, Jenna was a great 3-point shooter, draining the seventh-most shots in program history with 135 made threes. Faith Hammond tallied 213 career points in her four years at LBC, pulling in 161 rebounds with 46 steals and 23 assists. Shelby Gard played two years for the Chargers, amassing 157 points with 98 rebounds and 53 assists. Lancaster Bible has completed its first season under head coach Ryan Carpenter, finishing 8-17 with an even 6-6 United East record, making the playoffs as the fifth-seed in his first year.
 
Congratulations to the Women's Basketball team for their 2023-24 season and to all the seniors for their wonderful careers in the black, red, and white!