Schuckman views competition Gymnastics more than a sport By BARB SHELLY Collegian Sports Writer , Karen Schuckman is a special gymnast. Her r9u mes are special more abstract, more creative. Schuckman has performed floor exercises to cello music instead of piano. Her outlook on gymnastics is also special. "That's the thing I've spent the most time on in my whole life. It's been my major educational experience," Schuckman said. "I sort of believe in it.' "Gymnastics is a valuable training ground for s karning skills that Make people better people," she "You have to compete and cooperate at the same time. "Competition isn't all there is. I tend to de emphasize it. I think I'm at my best when I'm not thinking about how competitive I am. "Look at 'what's going on in the world. People need to emphasize cooperation. You just have to cooperate with the people you compete against," , Schuckman said, meaning that opposing teams still i'agree on rules and format. Schuckman, who has competed in the Pan American games, performed for the U.S. team which competed against Japan at Penn State and just missed the cuts for the Munich Olympics, has had to make difficult decisions about the im portance of gymnastics in her life. She started tumbling and working on the balance ' beam at age nine. From there, Schuckman joined the West Hartford gymnastics club and started working all-around. .In eighth grade- Schuckman qualified for the regional Junior Olympic program. She was invited to join the prominent Southern Connecticut Gym nastics team. 00 Lion forward Chris Erichsen returns to the hardwood tonight at Temple. The sen ior co-captain was averaging 15 points per game when he broke a foot in late Dec- ember Victory slips Lady Gagers By DARLENE BROBAK Collegian Sports Writer This was one time when the Lady Lion roundballers should have quit while they were ahead. The Penn State women traveled to East Stroudsburg last night and had the lead at halftime, 42-29. Unfortuately, the rules specify that there are two halfs to every game, and last night's - Contest terminated in a 74-73 victory for the East Stroudsburg girls. The Lady Lions missed the first end of two crucial one-and-one foul shot situations with less than one minute remaining in the game and, as a result, met'with defeat instead of victory. East Stroudsburg, behind the shooting of Donna Shellenberger (20 points in the con test) and 6-0 senior Doris braving (18 points and 14 rebounds) outscored the Lady Lions in the second half, 45 points to 31 points. Lady Lion coach Pat Meiser said that the difference in the game was Penn State's Viability to connect at the foul line. In the second period, the Penn State cagers managed to throw only three of nine shots through the hoop, bringing their total to nine of 17 for the game. ' Another statistical column which showed a noticeable difference was the turnover department, which Penn State has been having difficulty with. They led in turnovers; 15-2. East Stroudsburg countered Penn State's offensive attack with the same triangle and Penguins, 76ers defeated BUFFALO (AP) Center George Johnson keyed a defensive effort with 17 rebounds and seven blocked shots as the Braves defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 99-89 in their first home game in snowbound Buffalo in almost two weeks Tuesday night. Buffalo never trailed against the National Basketball Association's Atlantic Division leaders but had to withstand a fourth quarter Philadelphia rally ..4 away from in last half two defense the Slippery Rock girls em ployed to defeat them Thursday night. The Lady Lions had prepared for this defense, which is a combination of zone and man-to man, but did a lot of "free lancing" on the floor instead of operating as a unit. Hallie Bunk followed up a career-high 27 points she contracted against Shippensburg •in Saturday afternoon's big win, 83-48, with a duplicate point total and a team-high nine rebounds. . "Halite was the bright spot," coach Pat Meiser said. "She seems to do well against East Stroudsburg " Nancy Kuhl and Sue Martin chipped in 10 points apiece for the Lady Lions. East Stroudsburg may well be a better team then its 2-5 record indicates. It has played a quality schedule that includes such big-name teams as Queens, Immaculata, Montclair and Southern Connecticut. "We must learn from this," Pat Meiser said. "We have to handle pressure games." The next "pressure game" will come on Saturday when the Lady Lions once again go on the road to meet the Pitt Pantherettes. Earlier this season, in the Pitt Invitational Tournament, the Pantherettes handed Penn State a 71-66 loss. The loss drops Penn State's record to 9-4. In a game precluding the varsity game, the Lady Lion JV kept their undefeated record intact by defeating East Stroudsburg's JV,BB - which cut a 17-point lead down to 88-83 with 4:40 to play. HoweVer, Adrian Dantley and Bird Averitt scored four points apiece as the Braves outscored the 76ers 11-6 the rest of the way. ST LOUIS (AP) Claude Larose scored three goals in the final period following a 24- shot St. Louis barrage in the second session, helping the Blues down the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 in the Nqonal "At this time I was losing interest," Schuckman said. She was spending more time on figure skating . and horseback riding. Because her coach for the junior Olympic Regionals was also the coach for the Southern Connecticut Gymnastics Team, however, Schuckman joined the program in New Haven. Schuckman described her daily schedule. School from nine in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. Then an houi's drive to the gym, where she would practice until 9:30 p.m. or later. Return home at eleven at night, eat dinner, and complete whatever schoolwork was necessary for the next day. "Then the next day I'd get up and do it all over again," Schuckman said. Traveling to meets was also time consuming. "My junior year of high school I think I missed about eight weeks of school," Schuckman said. By the age of 16, "I was starting to look around and see that gymnastics isn't all there is to life. They tried to make it so you had nothing to think about gymnastics, but I don't believe it. So I decided to quit," Schuckman said. Schuckman said her first choice of colleges was Stanford, but she came to Penn State as a com promise to her parents' wishes that she attend a school closer to Connecticut. She said Gene Wett stone, men's gymnastics coach at that time, was a prevailing force in her coming to Penn State. Schuckman started at Penn State during spring term of 1973. "I wanted a big school. I was excited about the educational opportunities," she said. "I met a lot of people when I came here. We partied a lot. I took gymnastics class," she said. That summer Schuckman taught gymnastics. "Then I decided I would try doing gymnastics again," she said. She joined Penn State's team in Hockey League Tuesday night. Larose's goals, boosting his season total to 22, came after St. Louis established a 3-1 lead in the middle period by matching the heaviest 20- minute seige in the club's history. The salvos, each set up by Larry Patey, offset Pitts burgh goals midway through the tinal period by Rick Kehoe and Lew Morrison only 34 seconds apart. ~ Erichsen back, An old face will return to action tonight when the Penn State `basketball team (7-13) meets Temple at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Chris Erichsen, 6-6 senior forward, who was the Lions' leading scorer (15.7ppg average) and rebounder (8.0 average) before he broke his foot in late December, will suit up and probably see action after missing 11 games and nearly two months of the season. "Chris completed almost a full workout on Sunday," said Lion coach John Bach. "We were surprised that he could go that long, but his foot stood up. On Monday, his condition was different. He was bothered by his foot and blisters that probably resulted from Sunday's workout. "But we have a lot of hopeful signs that he can come in and play on a limited basis in both the Temple Hope Classic underway PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) Former President Gerald Ford will compete for four days this week each time with a different professional partner in the unique, $200,000 Bob Hope Desert Golf Classic. Ford, who made a two-day appearance with Arnold Palmer as his partner in the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am three weeks ago, will play one round each with defending champion Johnny Miller, veteran Billy Casper, Lee Elder and PGA champion Dave Stockton. Photo by Eric Polack Portions of his round with Elder, along with host Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason, will be televised nationally Saturday by NBC-TV. The format for this 90-hole, five-day event that begins today calls for the 128 professionals to play one round on each of four desert golf courses, each day with a different team of three amateurs. At the end InTFIRMURRLS Berger's Vectors took the grad-faculty league championship last night at Rec Hall, but they needed help from an ill-conceived Leniont Scientific defen sive change to ice the 50-43 win. The Vecs had built their 19-16 halftime lead up to eight points early in the second half behind Scott Christini and Dave Houck, and Lemont called time. Lemont scrapped their 2-1- 2 zone defense and went to a man-to-man defense, which had worked well for the Vectors. "We were really happy when they did that," the Vectors' Jim Beckman said. "We have a lot of man-to-man type players. We're mostly all from the cities," Playing city-ball, the Vectors controlled the rest of the game. Houck, who led his team with 15 points, turned the game into a run and-gun shootout, with help from Christini and Jim Runt (12 points each). Only the play of Lanny Sommese (24 points, 18 of them in the second half) kept Lemont in the game. Sommese couldn't miss from any distance for most of the half, thanks mostly to 6'6" Roger Telefsen, who set some ferocious picks. But Lemont could never pull close enough to challenge the Vectors, who finished their season with a 12-0 record. "I'm really happy," was about all most of the 1974, the year she was national champion. "I tried to decide whether to get serious. I've been fluctuating back and forth between doing 100 per cent - dedication to gymnastics and getting really good or keep doing it the way I've been doing it sort of relaxed," Schuckman said. "This year I think I've found my role. I'm not really interested in doing gymnastics at the level of making an Olympic team," she said. "I'm at a disadyantage now because it's popular now to be real young and small. I know my style of gymnastics isn't really popular anymore," Schuck man said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not getting as much as I want out of it. I'm finding out what's rewarding to me about doing it." Schuckman is a math major and is presently working on an independent research project con cerning creativity. "It's developing a functional definition of creativity," she said. "I could have gotten a degree in Phys Ed and gone out and been a gymnastics coach, but I'm not sure that's really satisfying to me," she said. "I'd like to be in gymnastics in a way, that's more educational but less competitive. Ideally what I'd like to do is have my own school." Schuckman said she had friends in Connecticut interested in doing the same thing. "That's sort of a dream," she said. "I guess all it takes to do it is to decide to do it." After competing for so long, and so well, Schuck man sees her fourth and final year on Penn State's gymnakics team as an end to the competitive phase of her career. "I really am sort of glad it's going to be over," she said. By RICK WEBER Collegian Sports Writer Vectors take title,• KDR, Beech win game and the Navy game (at Rec Hall on Saturday)." Erichsen's experience and steadying influence has been sorely missed on the predominantly fresh man- and sophomore-oriented squad. His return to action should have an immediate effect on the team. "With his return, we're adding an experienced offensive player, a physical player, and a good shooter to the lineup," Bach said. "I think a team is always picked up when .a player like Chris can come back." Erichsen will provide some relief for freshman forwards Steve Kuhn, Walt Young, and Bill Dankos, all of whom had-been rushed along in their development during Erichsen's absence. "With Chris out, we haven't been able to take our young forwards out," Bach said.'"We've had to bring Steve Kuhn along very quickly. Erichsen of 72 holes, the amateurs are finished and pros only play for the $40,000 first prize Sunday at the La Quinta Country Club. Miller, although struggling through his worst start in several seasons, is the probable favorite in the longest tournament the touring pros play all season. Miller has won the last two desert classics, but comes into this one in completely dif ferent circumstances from previous years. Each of the last two seasons he came here with one or two victories and at the top of his very considerable game. This time, however, he has only $6BO in winnings to show for his efforts this year. He hasn't been a factor in any tournament. "Mostly it's been my putting," said Miller, who has been slowed by a bout with flu, "It's a matter of momentum. I haven't been able to generate anything. Vectors players could manage to blurt out when the championship was won. Some have played IM sports together for six years. ".`For the most part, though, we've been playing together for about two years," Beckman said. "But we've never really won anything. We didn't expect to win this either, but we had a lot of fun. That's the main thing." Winning an IM cham pionship wasn't the only fun the Vectors had last night, either. "The Skeller at 10," Beckman said. "We're gonna have some beer tonight." Eric Yoder In a clash of IM basketball powerhouses, Beech defeated North umberland 47-37 at Rec Hall last night. The game sent Beech into the finals and ended the hopes of Northumberland for a third straight IM championship. Northumberland took an early lead on the fine shooting of Stan Koz minski. Mike Guman and Mickey Shuler, Beech's moonlighting football players, were cold in the first half and North umberland eventually extended its lead to six points, 16-10. By halftime Beech had cut the lead by three points The action started io heat up in the second half as numerous shoving matches Photo by Ken Kasper Karen Schuckman, captain•of Penn State's undefeated women's gym team, uses the floor exercise to display the feeling and creativity which make her routines special. Bach smiling may be able to relieve him a bit. It might help Steve to know that not so much is on his shoulders." - After a tough, physical, game against Army on Thursday, the Lions took Friday and Saturday off, then practiced Sunday, . Monday, and yesterdayin preparation for Temple: The Owls (11-10) were riding a three-game winning streak until South Carolina edged them, 49-48, on Saturday. The low-scoring affair was typical of Temple's play this season. The Owls are one of the top defensive teams in the nation, giving up an average of only 63.8 points per game. "Defense has been one of our strong points for a long time," said assistant coach Tony Brocchi, a 1969 graduate of Temple. "It's kept us in a lot of games this year when we had trouble offensively. It's simply the backbone of our team. We play a good game erupted. Shuler and Fred Sharpe were the main combatants, waging a constant war beneath the boards. Joe Hager of Beech was thrown out of the game after pushing a North umberland player after the whistle had blown. Throughout the constant turmoil of the second half, one player was able to keep his cool, Guman. He scored on . a variety of driving power moves and propelled Beech into the lead. Mark Parris helped out by scoring nine second half points. Northumberland was unable to stay with Beech as the normally dominant Fred Sharpe was contained by Shuler. Sharpe finished the game with only nine points. Sharpe had some unkind words for Shuler after the game, "he's big but he's slow and has no touch." Those were Sharpe's nicer comments. —Ron Wenig Kappa Delta Rho'used an almost flawless fun damental game to stun previously unbeaten Phi Gamma Delta 33-25 in IM playoff action last night at Rec Hall. KDR's upset win gives it a berth in the Championship tilt Thurs day against Phi Delta Theta. A stingy defense, ef fective boxing-out on the boards, and a second half slowdown offense that would have made North The Daily Collegian Wednesday, February 9, 1977 Major league standings National Hockey League CAMPBELL CONFERENCE Patrick Division W L T Pis GF GA 32 10 12 76 215 149 31 15 8 70 190 137 24 19 11 59 183 174 19 23 13 51 192 198 Smythe Division Pinta NY Isl Atlan NY Rng St Lou Chgo Colo Minn Vancvr 50 158 189 47 171 192 41 160 198 38 155 211 36 153 213 22 26 6 19 27 9 16 29 9 13 28 12 15 34 6 WALES CONFERENCE Norris Division Mont Pitts L.A. Wash Dtit 39 7 9 87 262 128 24 21 9 57 170 169 19 23 11 49 174 170 16 30 9 41 148 207 15 31 6 36 133 190 Adams Division 32 17 6 70 209 172 29 17 6 64 188 149 25 21 7 57 196 175 16 28 9 41 155 191 Bstn Buff Tnto Cleve Carolina coach Dean Smith proud, keyed KDR, now 11- 1. The much taller FIJI team jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Greg Kubas free throw and Steve Nielsen's tap-in. Greg Berkebile, who along with KDR's other big man Jeff Bowen was tagged with his third personal foul before halftime, then sunk an eight-footer to get his team on the scoreboard. Following a Nielsen corner shot, KDR aban doned its zone defense in favor of a man-to-man and by spotting the open man, raced to a 10-5 lead; one they expanded to 22-11 by intermission. Continuing to stymie FIJI with its tenacious defense, KDR, aided by strong bench contributions from Bob Kolaczynski and Ed Solenberger, exploded to a 27-11 lead while holding FIJI scoreless. The losers staged a mock comeback on buckets by Nielsen, Ernie Keller and Gary Zane to slice the margin to 27-18 with eight minutes remaining. That's when the team work of KDR, paced by the exceptional floor game of Mark Zinsky and the clutch shooting of Tom Brown, proved too much for FIJI. Taking its time and working for good per centage shots, KDR's Brown dumped in two fielders to push his team's lead to 31-21 with less than defensively and try to keep the game in the 50's and 60's." "Temple has been an up and down team this year," Bach said, "but they post well and can be very tough defensively and on the boards." "This is a game we should look forward to," Bach said. "We want to come back with more than some good play we want a victory." TWO-POINTERS: Rob O'Conor, the Lions' sophomore guard who has been lost for the season with a knee injury, will undergo surgery to repair the damage . . . Jeff Miller continues to pace Penn State in scoring with an average of 13.4 ppg. Miller has been averaging nearly 20 ppg in the last eight games . . . Sophomore center Carvin Jefferson leads the Lions in rebounding with an average of 8.4 per game. Jefferson has collected 38 rebounds in the last three games, including 16 against Pittsburgh. National Basketball Association EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division %V L Pct. 31 19 .620 25 27 481 23 27 460 17 32 347 16 34 .320 Central Division Philphia Boston NY Knks Buffalo NY Nets Washton Cleve Houston S Anton N Orlns Atlanta WESTERN CONFERENCE Midwest Division 33 17 .660 31 22 .585 27 27 .500 24 28 .462 21 31 .404 15 41 268 Denver Detroit Kan City Indiana Chicago Milwkee two minutes left. The winners then stalled away their well-deserved victory "We came in as un derdogs, no doubt about it," roared an ecstatic who yanked Berkebile, down 12 rebounds. "But , they never got their game on track," he admitted. "We executed well and teamwork was a big factor. The guys worked well together," offered KDR coach Jim Bryja. "They were tough but we were too overconfident," dejected FIJI coach Tim Zelenka said. Brown led KDR with 11 Kolaczynski and Solen berger added eight and five, respectively. Nielsen bagged eight to front FIJI. Teamwork and fun damentals are , the key to winning basketball. Just ask FIJI. Neil Rudel BASKETBALI Finals GRAD-FACULTY Berger's Vectors def. Lemont Scientific, 50- Semifinals INDEPENDENT Pundava Brothers der Behrendites, 33-27; Bugs Bunny def. Geil's,and Co , 44- FRATERNITY Kappa Delta Rho def. Phi Gamma Delta, 33-25. DORMITORY Beech def Nor thumberland, 47-37; Carbon del Cameron, 42-29. COED VOLLEYBALL Playoffs Spikers 2 def. Leete 1, 9.1, 15-1; Bionic Spikers def Carbon Copies, 8- 6, 5.9, 13-2; Free U 2 def. High Risers, 11-3, 15-3; Smashers def. Peanut's Gang. 11-13, 15-3, 13 8, IC BIAVT def It's Curtains, 15-1, 13.5, %Vest Connection def Venangos 2, 11- 5, 12-3; Hot Dogs def. Dead Bears, 13-1, 12-14, 9-7; Cesstoads def. Slicksters, 14-3, 15-3 3 1 2 8 10 13 21
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