8 I The Behrend Beacon
Lady Lions basketball victorious against La Roche
With three of Behrends players
scoring in ck)uhle figures. the
Lions defeated the La Roche
Redhawks h\ a score of 65-50 on
Thursday night at the Junker
Center.
La Roche took a commanding
lead during the beginning min
utes of the first half as they went
on an 8-0 run. Behrend's head
coach Rut Fornzu - i took a timeout
when the score was 2-10 in favor
I I slnmur ( %ea PI Ifs Allel
CONTRIBLII.1) PH( YR
The stage is finally set for one
of the most watched sporting
e \ ents in the world. The
Pittsburgh Steelers will battle the
Arimia Cardinals lOr the NFL's
ultimate price, the Vince
Lombardi trophy.
On Feb. I, Raymond James
Stadium in Tampa. Florida will
host Super Bowl Mill. It was a
long journey for both the Steelers
and Cardinals, and now they cure
preparing for one last game. that
will leave them etched in history
fore\ er.
The AriAma Cardinals (12-7)
will he appearing in the fran
chise's first Super Bowl ever.
The Cardinals may have been the
most unlikely team from the
NFC bracket to make it to the big
show.
The Cardinals had a less than
spectacular (9-7) record in the reg
ular season. But due to a very,
very weak division, the Cardinals
were able to clinch the NFC West
and secure their place in the play-
The Cart were able to push
past the Atlanta Falcons in the
.111fiey Tray sucks Rall'll\ gwirterba( .hp- thtc(,o
()I' La Roche in hoj to settle the
team (k)W11 anll 111111 the tame
iround.
Behrend freshman Cluj st ie
Spear and freshman Kim Pol pro
vided a much needed spark to the
Lions after the t i menu!. When they
knocked down hack to hack three
pointers. making the score 8-10
in fa\ or of La Roche.
At 10:49 in the first hall. soph
omore Kell' Nowacinski tied the
gitme up at ten apiece when she
made both foul slugs after getting
fouled as she do‘e to the hoop.
Tip ina to catch the Red - Rmks
oil guard. the Blue and White
switched up defenses into a zone
press where thev trapped their
opponent right hefore the half
court line. Creating pressure to
La Roche's guards. the Behrend
Lions caused 30 total turnovers
throughout the gaMC.
The zone press \\ as very etfec-
Super Bowl XLIII
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals
wild card round. and absolutel
thrashed the Carolina Panthers in
the divisional round. The old\
team that stood between them and
a trip to Tampa was the
Philadelphia Eagles in the NEC
Championship game.
Although the Cardinals \\ ere
able to get past both the Falcons
and the Panthers, the Eagles, who
\\ ere a six seed and just barely
made the playoffs. were still
picked to get to the Super Rossi.
The Cardinals had other thoughts
about that.
Arizona dominated the first half
of the game. Their offense ran up
and (limn the field against the
third ranked Eagles' defense.
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald had
two touellikmns and over (me
hundred yards receiving in the
first half. giving the Cards a 24-6
lead at halftime.
Although it seemed like their
wings were clipped, the Eagles
weren't unable to fl y yet.
Donovan McNabb led his offense
to an amazing second half come
back.
The Eagles scored 19 unan-
tire." said Formui. "It is a change
up from man. We don't let teams
know we are going to do it."
With 8:30 to go in the first
half, the Lady Lions took the
lead. 16-14, when sophomore
Rachel Richard s on stole the ball
and added two points with a lay
up. From that point on. Behrend
remained ahead of La Roche
throughout the rest of the game.
As both tewns went into the
locker room for halftime, E3ehrend
had a seven point lead over La
Roche, 35-28. Richardson i.lnd
Pol led the team at the half with
ten points each.
The Redhawks seemed to he
creeping slowly up to Behrend as
they scored live points to start the
half to make the game 37-33.
The Behrend Lions quickly
stopped any hope the Redhawks
had by adding six points.
Richardson's three pointer and
Mee Mimi Liam players . .viannind a La Roan:. opponent
swered points. taking a 25-24 lead
with just over ten minutes to
play in the fourth quarter.
"I thought, in the second half.
e just adjusted, came hack and
began to get into the rhythm that
we need to he in. scoring points,"
McNabb said on his second half
pertOmtance.
The Cards were able to hold off
the Eagles rally, however. They
took over on their own 28-yard
line and began their game win
ning drive. Quarterback Kurt
Warner methodically led his
offense down the field, eating up
clock in the process.
After converting a fourth-and
one, the Cards were able to punch
the ball into the end zone with
2:53 to play in the game. After a
successful two point conversion,
Arizona led 32-25.
The Eagles tried to put togeth
er a game winning drive, but it
was to no avail. The Cardinals
were able to hold them off and
advance to the Super Bowl.
Fitzgerald turned in an unbe
lievable pertbonance with nine
catches for 152 yards and 3 touch
downs.
just knew that I have to do
my job and stay grounded,"
Fitzgerald said. "Make sure I
don't get too emotional. ...
Those kinds of things are going
through my mind, to make sure I
do the fundamental things."
The Pittsburgh Steelers (14-4)
were the AFC North division
champions going a perfect 6-0
within their division. The
Steelers were able to get through
SPORTS
By Christine Newbv
sporls
11505 Na Ni.edu
junior Christine Krankota's lay
up followed by a foul shot creat
ed a more comlbrtable ten point
lead.
At 3:51 in the second half, sen
ior Natalie Engel faked a shot,
drove to the basket, and scored on
the play as she was fouled. Engel
completed the three point play
with a foul shot which put
Behrend up 55-46.
The Lions went on to victory
with a final score of 65-55, which
improves their overall record to
7-8 and AMCC record above the
.500 mark at 5-4.
"We played like a team, - said
Pol. "It was a team effort. -
Richardson and Pol finished the
game with a game-high 17 points
and Engel was also in double fig
ures with 13 points. Nowacinski
and Krankota contributed to
Behrend's success as they each
grabbed ten rebounds.
By Nick Blake
editol
nphs( )4 I (" psu.edu
one of the toughest regular season
schedules with a record of (12-4).
The Steelers' defense carries the
team and may be one of the best
theiranchise has ever seen, led by
NFL Defensive MVP, linebacker
James Han son and safety Troy
Po I am al u.
The Pittsburgh Steelers also
had a tough road ahead of them to
get to the Super Bowl. Although
the Steelers drew the number two
seed, and had a first round bye. it
wouldn't he an easy task.
The Steelers first had to take on
the red, hot San Diego Chargers.
The Chargers were without star
running back LaDanian
Tomlinson, but back up Darren
Sproles turned in a great pertirm
ance against the Indianapolis
Colts a week befbre.
It turned out that the Chargers
were nearly no match for the
Steelers as the Black and Gold
advanced to the AFC
Championship game.
The AFC Championship game
would surely be one to remember,
because the Steelers would take
on their division rival Baltimore
Ravens.
The Ravens and the Steelers
met twice in the regular season
and the Steelers won both con
tests. They were both very hard
hitting and defensive battles.
There was no doubt that the third
and final game would be the same
way.
The Steelers appeared to be the
dominant team jumping out to a
13-0 lead in the first half. The
famous Steelers defense was
Sophomoir rimy °Hoch dfibbles down the
"Kim. Rachel. Nat. Kelly. and
Christine all had an impact on the
game. - said Fomari. "If you look
at the numbers, they were most
significant. A lot of people made
an impact as far as team wise. -
On Saturday Jan. 24. the
Behrend Lions face Frostburg
State in another AMCC g.ame in
the Junker Center at I p.m.
In the lint matchup against
Frostburg State. Behrend lost by
a score of 72-81.
The Blue and White hope to
turn the outcome of the tiame
relentless bringing intense pres
sure to rookie quarterback Joe
F I acco
It seemed as if the Ravens were
going to fail to put up any points
in the first half, until a pass inter
ference call on Pittsburgh corner
back Ike Taylor led to a touch
down for Baltimore. The score at
halftime was 13-7 in favor of
Pittsburgh.
The Ravens got the ball to start
Outbids wide nveiver Lam' Fitzgendd caches a /aces
the second half and the
Pittsburgh's defense continued
their outstanding play. It didn't
take long for the Steelers to get
the ball back, and once it was in
the offense's hands, they moved
into field goal range for kicker
Jeff Reed to make the lead, 16-7.
The Ravens would strike again,
however, when Taylor got called
tbr pass interference once again in
the end zone. Baltimore running
back Willis McGahee would find
pay dirt from one yard out mak
ing the score 16-14.
The Ravens would get the ball
back towards the end of the fourth
quarter with a chance to win the
Friday, January 23,2009
amend and split the I I
\\, 111 W.illt2ll 111k.' 12.1111k2 111111
((Might ITIIIII',LLI\ 1. Ivvral. what I
see. and put it it pr.oh:c
tomorrow. - said liorni i i.
Teamk‘ork ill he aI o lajtui
and focus in Satuida\
-We unt
iThlirSatVl ;.111d vvr 11C . A 1 loco,
an Satwikt\ • game, - said Pol.
"We should locus on tc,inmork.
like \\,e toda, I I hurukn I. and
bo inv. out.-
('()N 1111il II I) illuk)
game. but tliow hopc , , \\ ould
quickly lade \\ hen Flaeco \\
picked off b!
Troy Polanialu. Who took the
interception all the wa\ to the end
lone. putting the game on ice.
The Steelers forced a 111111ble on
Baltimore's final itrke and \\ ere
able to 11111 out the clock and elkl
the game , riving them a 23-14
idory.
- Without a doubt this K the
best defense that I've ever plaed
on." Polamalu said alter the
game. "But \\e'll see \that hap
pens in the next game. I think
that's going to solidit him good
we are."
So with the Aritona Cardinals
looking for their first Super Bo‘\
in franchise history, and the
Pittsburgh Steelers looking tor
their sixth, it will he a Super
Bowl to remember.
Fitzgerald and the Arizona
offense have been dominating
their Opponents. Politinalti and
the Pittsburgh defense hav e been
dominating theirs. This ma\ he
the most exciting Super Bo\\
that fans have ever witnessed.