The Lancaster Bible women's basketball team won its third straight game on Saturday as the Chargers cruised past Penn St. Abington, 78-42 at Horst Athletic Center. Lancaster Bible is now 6-2 overall and 4-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play.

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible opened the game quickly as the Chargers raced out to an 11-0 lead thanks in large part to Marisa Jo Abts' five points. Penn St. Abington didn't score its first points until the 5:01 mark of the opening quarter and did not record a field goal in the first 10 minutes. Later in the first quarter, Shanice Smith extended Lancaster Bible's lead to 20-4 with a layup and the Chargers took their biggest lead of the quarter 37 seconds later when Kirsten Webster converted a layup with 1:55 to play.

Lancaster Bible maintained its double-digit lead through the second quarter, though the Nittany Lions finally began shooting the ball better and cut their deficit from a quarter-high of 21 to 13 with 1:32 to play in the quarter thanks to a jumper from Elizabeth Jones. A quick 5-0 run from Lancaster Bible sent its lead back to 18 at 39-21 before a late 3-pointer from Penn St. Abington produced the halftime score of 39-24.

Like the first quarter, Lancaster Bible's defense was stingy in the third quarter as the Chargers allowed just six points, two in the final 5:30 of the quarter, and opened up a 59-30 lead at the end of 30 minutes. The Chargers moved the ball well offensively in the third quarter as well, as 10 of their 20 points came in the paint, including eight points via the layup.

Lancaster Bible poured it on in the fourth quarter and Webster's layup with 1:19 to play put the finishing touches on a tremendous game for the Chargers as they won their third straight.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 42.5 percent (31-of-73) from the floor, while Penn St. Abington shot just 26.3 percent (15-of-57)...Neither team shot well from beyond the arc as the Nittany Lions were just 3-of-16 and the Chargers were 2-of-13...Seniors Aubrey Folger and Shanice Smith had great games for Lancaster Bible as each of them had 19 points and 16 rebounds...Folger added two steals and two assists, while seven of Smith's 16 rebounds came on the offensive glass...Fellow senior Katy Stover added 15 points and five assists, while junior Krissy Pennell had seven points and her second 10-assist performance of the season...Webster finished with 11 points and Abts had five points, three rebounds and two assists...Mary Finkbeiner chipped in with two points...Lancaster Bible outrebounded Penn St. Abington, 46-32, including a 15-8 advantage on the offensive glass...Shayna Rodriguez led the Nittany Lions with 10 points, while Madison Kimball had six points and 12 rebounds.

The Coach Says: "We've been talking about bringing our defensive intensity to the next level and I thought we did that today," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Katelyn Vanderhoff said. "We did a great job of making things difficult for Abington today. Katy Stover played a strong game against one of their better players, Elum."

More on Saturday's Game..."I thought the fact that we only turned the ball over eight times was huge for us," Vanderhoff said. "We've been averaging 20 turnovers a game, so clearly that was a big step in the right direction for us. The lack of turnovers combined with our 21 assists made it a great day and everyone just played really smart today."

On Next Weekend's Trip to New York.."Friday and Saturday will be our first back-to-back since the opening weekend of the year, so we will need to make sure we play defense well and make teams work hard on both ends of the floor," Vanderhoff said. "We need to be focused both days and execute well."

Extra! Extra!: Lancaster Bible is now 9-5 all-time against Penn St. Abington...The Chargers have outscored their opponents 175-82 in the first quarter this season...Folger's 19 points give her 1,719 for her career and she is just 260 points behind the all-time basketball leading scorer at Lancaster Bible, Sam Rempel (1997-01)...Pennell almost has as many assists, 56, as she does points, 59, this season...Smith continues to average more rebounds per game, 15.3, than points, 13.6...Lancaster Bible has won 29 straight home regular season NEAC contests...The Chargers' last home regular season NEAC loss came on February 16, 2012 to St. Elizabeth.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible makes its only trip to New York during the regular season next weekend as the Chargers take on Cazenovia on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and will face Morrisville State the following afternoon at 3 p.m.