ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University women's basketball team got back in the win column on Wednesday evening with an 86-78 non-conference victory over Lancaster Bible College.
Five Knights scored in double figures in the win, led by
Lauren Legler who recorded 23 points on the night, including seven baskets from downtown.
Mariah Maciejewski (18 points),
AAliya Hayes (18 points),
Nafisa Saunders (10 points), and
Alex Fernandez (10 points) also notched double-digit points, while
Shauntel Williams led the team with six assists.
Neumann would start the game on fire, completely dominating the Chargers in the opening quarter. The Knights would open the game on a 21-1 run led by a trio of three-pointers from Legler, who would finish the quarter with 12 points. The Knights would also finish the quarter on a 14-4 run to finish the opening period with a 34-5 lead.
Lancaster Bible would find its game in the second quarter, chipping away at the Knights big lead. Despite outscoring Neumann by a count of 27-20 in the frame, the Chargers would still find themselves down 22 points as the game headed to halftime. Legler continued her hot-shooting from behind the arc in the quarter, finishing the half with six triples and 20 points. Saunders would also finish the half in double-figures, notching ten points of her own.
The second half would begin much like the first half ended. Lancaster Bible continued to battle back and would bring the game back to a 17 point deficit to end the third quarter. Maciejewski would lead the Knights in the quarter with eight of her 18 points on the night.
The Knights lead would continue to dwindle in the fourth quarter, as the Chargers would cut the deficit to as low as five points with just over a minute to play in the game. That was as close as Lancaster Bible would get though as Fernandez nailed a pair of late free throws to ice the game. With the win, head coach
Frank Farnese became the winningest coach in program history with 173 wins.
Neumann (3-4) next takes the court on Saturday as it hosts Catholic University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 PM.
