a_e 12
Winning season
Lions go from 10-15
to 13-12 in Niland's
first year
by Julie Stocker
Collegian Siaff
This past Monday, the Behrend
Lions Head Coach Dave Niland
received the news that his team
would not participate in post
season play.
"It's disappointing," Coach
Niland said. "We would have
liked to make the play-offs."
Despite not making the play
offs, the 1994-95 pack of Lions
accomplished plenty this season.
For one, they improved on last
year's 10-15 record with a 13-12
slate.
"We accomplished some goals
that we set early in the year.
Overall, I thought it was a
successful season," commented
Niland.
"1 think the season went pretty
well considering mostly freshmen
and sophomores were on the
court," said guard Jamie Okonak.
"We had a lot of inexperience,
but we came through."
At season's end, Steve Berger
led the Lions in scoring with a
14.8 points per game average.
"Excellent
foundation" for
95-96 season
by Nick Zulovich
Assistant Sports Mao,
The Pcnn State-Behrcnd Lady
Lions finishcd a successful
season under head coach Roz
Fomari by winning their last six
contests. The team finishcd with
a record of 14-11.
Unfortunately that record was
not good enough for the Lady
Lions to receive an Eastern
Collegiate Athletic Conference
(ECAC) play-off bid. Allentown
College, Alvernia College,
Frostburg State, and Bethany
College received ECAC playoff
bids.
Coach Fornari said she felt
disappointed about her team not
receiving a bid.
"We were on a really good run,
winning six in a row here at the
end of the season. We had just
started playing well as an entire
team," said Fornari.
For the second straight season
under Fornari the Lady Lions
have finished with a winning
record.
Fornari said that the basketball
program was in goal shape when
she came to Behrend two seasons
ago. "My job is to keep the
program at this level and to take
it even higher," explained
Fornari.
Todd Sturgin followed with 12.3
ppg, and Ron Dorian finished
with a 10.3 ppg average to round
out the double figure scorers.
Sturgin led the Lions in
rebouding with 8.6 per game, and
Berger was behind him while
pulling down 8.5 rebounds per
game. Desmond Hannon hauled
in 5.2 rebounds per game,
which was third on the team.
From the charity stripe,
Okonak was high man while
shooting 85 percent, and Derian
shot 78 percent from the free
throw line.
Derian and Okonak led the
Lions in assists, as each dished
out 2.3 assists per game.
Sturgin led Behrend in blocks,
with 34 for the year. Berger and
Hannon had 21 and 10 blocks,
respectively.
Berger and Derian each had 20
steals, while Okonak collected
15.
"All eight of our players played
well," said Niland. "They gave
us everything they had."
As Behrend now enters the off
season, it is a time for
So the future is still bright for
the success of Lady Lions
basketball. With ten returning
players for next season,
experience could be one of the
team's strong points.
Leading scorer and rebounder
Marlesse Schlott will return for
her senior season. Schlott
averaged 12.4 points per game
along with 11 rebounds per
Behrend's other two top
scorers, Melanie Banas and Becky
Reed, will also return next
season. Banas averaged 11 points
per game while Reed was right
behind averaging 10.7.
Many freshmen playcd very
well this past season for Fornari.
This group of freshmen included
Banas, Emily Marini, and Nikki
Schultz.
Marini was second on the tram
in rebounding, averaging 8.2
rebounds per game. She also
scored 7.5 points per game.
Schultz was a solid performer
off the bench for the Lady Lions.
Shc averaged 5.6 points and 5.2
ittx)unds per game.
Fornari explained, "We have an
excellent foundation to build on
for the future."
orts
conditioning and road trips to
local high schools for recruiting
visits.
"We're always preparing. We'll
be as a unit in the weight room,
and we'll go back to work in the
summer," said Niland. "Assistant
Coach Karel Jelinek and I arc out
quite a bit trying to bring in a
class of recruits."
"It's
disappointing... We
would have liked
to make the
play-offs"
- Coach Nfland
Niland concluded by saying,
"We have a program that is going
in the right direction. You could
get a good degree in a great
atmosphere and enhance it by
playing on a very good college
basketball team."
Spring Break
Jennifer Brener/ Collegian Photographer
Shooting for two: Todd Sturgin of the Behrend Lions
scores in a recent game. The Lions finished the season for
the first time in three years.
You a
Wonderful
from Everyone at
P S
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Thursda , March 2, 1995