A O I Behrend Beacon C y\ I February 26, 2010 J I J ® I www.thebehrendbeacon.com MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL AMCC championship tournament Men's season rolls on as they defeat The Behrend Lions came out on top in an citing game for the start of the playoff seat The Lions took on Penn State Altoona at Junker Center on Tuesday to start off the p offs for the AMCC Championships. The game started off slow, with neither t scoring any points in the first five minu Behrend missed their first five shots, and toona missed their first six. The slow start was mainly due to familial and nerves from the start of the playoffs, bt that changed when Russ Conley put the first points on the board with his layup. From there, the Lions fed off his energy continue forcing turnovers and turning tl into points against Altoona. “This is the third time we have played toona, the second time in four days, so we w< very familiar with them,” said senior forw? Adam Potter. “That, in addition to maybe sr playoff nerves on both sides, led to a slow start, and thankfully Russ's layup got the rolling for the rest of the game.” After Conley’s layup, it was a close bi with Altoona. Behrend made 11 out of thi shots from the floor in the first half, It which were scored by junior guard Jui Kovac, while Altoona managed to tie the gf with a layup. However, by forcing 11 turnovers, Behrend was able to get ahead, leaving the court at the half leading 29-23. The men came out of the locker room after halftime ready to finish and determined to ad vance to the next round of the playoffs. With Behrend taking charge on the court, they scored the first nine points in the second half. This half was very controversial as the officials handed out numerous fouls to Behrend. How ever, the Lions refused to let the calls take their victory away from them. “We tried to ignore the officials and play our game,” Kgvac said “They are uncontrol lable at hand, ,AdKeM>6U 1 Kovach, a junior majoring in biology who is looking to focus in wildlife and fisheries, is from Scott Township, Pa. (Chartiers Val ley). She had absolutely no expectations when she jumped off the board for the first time in the Junker Center for Behrend as a freshman. “I was hesitant to call head coach Jen Wallace about trying for a spot on the team because I’ve never dove before, and I didn’t know what to expect from college diving and didn't plan to become a part of Behrend swimming and diving until about Jon Klein/The Behri (left) Senior forward Adah (right) Freshmen guard Aly Eagle, ALEC ITALIANO sports editor AMCC tournament road ends prematurely for women two weeks before I started my freshman year at Behrend,” Kovach said. Her short diving career proved very suc cessful. Her most impressive accomplish ment is breaking all the previous team diving records at Behrend. These include three Behrend pool records, two at Chat tarn University and one a piece at Grove City and Gannon. Kovach also won AMCC’s all three years competing and is the first Behrend aquatic athlete to compete in the tourna ment. Often found with her iPod in before a dive, Kovach is very focused before a meet and tries to block everything else out be fore stepping up on the board. “I work on fixing things during practice that week and try to let my body do its thing during competition,” Kovach said. “Before 1 do a dive, I visualize what I want the dive to look like and work through the motions on the pool deck, but I try not to think too much about anything before I dive.” Although most of her time is now fo cused toward diving, that was not always the case. “I like diving, but I wouldn't call it my It was a disappoint ing loss for the women’s basketball team as they had high hopes going into the AMCC Playoffs, but fell to Penn State Altoona 72-63. , The women would lose two ' games in a row(their last regu i lar season game against Al ? toopa), and their rematch against Altoona three days later in the playoffs. Altoona led by 21 points going into halftime, but as is the / case with Behrend all season long, they charged back and brought the deficit to only two ppints. In a game that saw back and forth momentum the Blue * | and White battled back basically the en '*• tire game. | An 11-point run was not enough to I counter Altoona’s 21 -point run through J the course of the game. ■ Behrend would have trouble, stop lk ping Alicia Glasser and Marissa Lucas * from Altoona, as both combined for' 31 points. Also, Lucas led all players with njne rebounds. Senior forward Christine Krankota said that, “throughout this season, we have dealt with more than our fair share of '; adversity, and I believe the experience we gained played a big role in us nearly complet ing a 21- point comeback against Altoona.” Behrend had caught Altoona in the midst of a three game winning streak. On the other hand, the Lions were on a five game win ning streak before being derailed by Al toona in the last regu lar season game of the v Reason. However, it , sjeemed as if Behrend has had trouble against Altoona for most of the season, Behrend put up a fight in the AMCC touma- ment, and also ended with an overall winning record Behrend would finish the season with an overall record of 14-11. Oh the other side, Altoona would set a school record for wins, earning their 20th win of the season against Behrend, Following the game, several players reflected on their overall season. “The loss is disappointing; with the amount of talent and potential we had as a team, this wasn’t on par with our expectations,” Krakota said. “We ended the season with a winning record, and we overcame so much adversity; we really came to gether and I hate to see it end. Any other team would have given up being down 21 points,” said junior guard Amy Oldach. For Behrend, their season would end on a negative note. For their loss, their season may be looked at as a disappointment, but deep down it should be looked back on as a success. Their strong effort and desire will set them apart for future Behrend teams to come. passion,” Kovach said. “If 1 had to pick a sport that was my passion it would be gym nastics, for which I have many more ac complishments.” Kovach showed great strides in gymnas tics, making it to level nine nationals her last two years competing in the sport. There are only ten levels in gymnastics, so level nine in gymnasticsis pretty close to the top of the sport. Athletes are considered for world com petitions, including the Olympics, at the junior and senior elite levels after level ten. Aside from traveling to level nine nation als her last two years competing, she was also the level nine state champion her last year and won many individual first place awards in the sport before retiring a suc cessful gymnastic career. Kovach trans formed that into an outstanding diving career so far for Behrend. “Before I officially became a part of the team and up until the middle of my first season, I wasn't sure if I could make it in college diving, but I wanted to try, and I'm glad I did,” Kovach said. “It's funny, you never know what you can do until you try, and you can do anything you put your mind to really.” orts SEAN NEELY staff writer “We ended the season with a winning record* and we over- came so much adversity.” AmytOldach junior guard