Beacon-
Lady Lions crowned AMCC champs
Behrend hosts Men’s
by Jason Snyder
sports editor
The Behrend Lady Lions’ basket
ball team captured their first ever Al
legheny Mountain Collegiate Confer
ence (AMCC) championship this past
weekend. The Behrend men bowed
out in the first round, but still quali
fied for the ECAC Division 111 Play
offs.
After a regular season that saw both
teams finish atop the AMCC, both the
men’s and women’s tournaments were
held in Erie Hall. Sports Information
Director Paul Benim commented on
the experience saying, “Brian Streeter
and the Athletic Department did an
outstanding job with the tournament.”
The opening round of the tourna
ment took place on Thursday, Febru
ary 25 as both the Behrend men and
women earned a bye with their #1
rankings in the conference. In the
men’s bracket, #4 Laßoche and #3
Pitt-Bradford advanced to the semi
finals with wins over #5 Frostburg
State and #6 Lake Erie. The women’s
first round games also saw #4
Laßoche and #3 Pitt-Bradford ad
vance with wins over #5 Pitt-
Greensburg and #6 Lake Erie.
The Thursday results set up
Saturday’s games in Erie Hall. The
lien's semifinal round tipped-off at
1:00 p.m. as #2 Pitt-Greensburg faced
#3 Pitt-Bradford. Pitt-Greensburg
held off the challenge of Pitt-
Bradford, 68-60 to advance to
Sunday’s final versus the winner of
the Laßoche/Behrend game played at
3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The Behrend men entered the semi
final game against Laßoche needing
Behrend Professor takes Erie
citizens on ride through space
by Ryan Cannon
staff writer
This past Thursday night, Dr.
Darren Williams, Assistant Professor
of Physics here at Behrend, enter
tained the audience and its curiosity
about habitable planets during the
Astronomy Open House. From the
moment that the fourth demonstation
of the 1998/99 Astronomy Open
House Series began, it was obvious
that the evening was going to be won
derfully intriguing. Through the use
of computer aided displays and ani
mation, Williams incorporated his
expertise to educate the audience on
celestial matters.
The voyage began as the inquisi
tive crew and their captain traveled
back five hundred years to the days
of the Polish Astronomer Nicholas
Copernicus. This is when interest in
the cosmos first began. During this
time, religion had powerful influence
on every decision, and astronomers
were despised because of their new
discoveries and beliefs about the uni
verse. One such astronomer accu-
The Behrend
Erie, PA 16563
a win to have a chance to qualify for
the national tournament. The men
were already consistently ranked in
the NCAA’s East regional rankings
and hoped a win against Laßoche
would propel them to the 1999 NCAA
Division 111 Men’s Basketball Cham-
pionships.
The Behrend men led by as many
as 15 points, until a late rally by
Laßoche tied the game to send it to
overtime. Laßoche outscored the Li
ons by two in the extra session to come
away with a 70-68 upset. The loss
was Behrend’s fourth straight to end
the season, which ended all hopes of
a tournament bid. However, the Li
ons still posted a strong enough record
at 18-7 to qualify for the ECAC tour
nament that began last night against
Grove City in Erie Hall (results in next
issue of the Beacon).
After the conclusion of the Behrend
men’s basketball game, the women’s
semifinal round began as#2 Frostburg
State, who defeated Behrend earlier
in the season, was eliminated by an
other tough opponent in #3 Pitt-
Bradford . Following the 6:00 p.m.
game, the Lady Lions took the floor
for a semifinal match-up with
Laßoche. The Behrend women were
coming off an upsetting overtime de
feat only one week previously that
handed them their second loss in the
AMCC.
The Lady Lions were held to a
seven-point lead at halftime, but
poured on the offense and defense to
come away with a 63-48 win. The
win set up a rematch of last season’s
AMCC championship final between
Behrend and Pitt-Bradford. The Lady
Panthers pulled off an emotional 55-
rately stated that the universe has in
numerable suns and earths that re
volve like ours, and there very well
could be life elsewhere. Shortly after
pronouncing this, he was executed.
The church did not care for the idea
of life existing somewhere other than
Earth.
Because of technological advances
astronomers can ponder extraterrestial
life. Today aliens are featured in mun
dane things like movies such as Star
Wars and E.T. After Dr. Williams dis
cussed the role of aliens in today’s me
dia, he moved on to the requirements
of life.
Earth is the only known planet to
have liquid water; which is perhaps
the most essential ingredient for life.
Other necessities that a planet must
possess to support life are: an atmo
sphere and an orbit that lies in the
“Habitable Zone.” This zone in the
area around a star that contains the ap
propriate temperatures that life de
mands. Earth is the only planet in our
Astronomy continued on page 2
moving No
Parking
mSpmKm
and Women’s Tournaments
Tiffany Buck shoots for three
in the Lady Lions’AMCC
Championship game
How much is
by Shannon Weber
news editor
Part of being a Behrend students is
getting your course books from the
only bookstore on campus, the Penn
State Bookstore. Many students are
resentful of the bookstore’s prices, its
monopoly on course book sales and
their buyback policy. However, book
store managers claim that their poli
cies are inaccordance with industry
standards.
All required course books that are
sold in the bookstore are chosen by
the professors. Professors are con
cerned about the text book prices.
Some professors request paperback
editions, if available to keep cost
down. Brad Johnson, a professor in
the School of Engineering and Engi
neering Technology, told the Beacon
that they inform the bookstore about
the students getting their books
through the Society of Plastics Engi
neers. He said that the students usu
ally order them in a group and are able
to get a few books through them for a
cheaper rate.
Underage
drinkers
signs
March 4, 1999 Volume XLVII No. 22
Movie review:
BMM
m u
photo by Jason Blake
The publishing companies sell the
books to the bookstore, run by
Barnes and Noble at a set cost. They
also have a selling price that they
must follow.
The bookstoreadds a minimum
markup to their purchase cost to
cover the expenses of operation. If
no price is set by tne publisher tne
bookstore will cover their expences
and include a fee to make a profit..
A typical way that each dollar is
spent by a student, is divided first by
the publisher. The publisher receives
67% or 67 cents of every new text
book dollar spent. This figure in
cludes the cost of the book’s devel
opment, expenses such as paper,
graphic design marketing materials
and the publisher’s revenues. The
author of the book receives approxi
mately 9% or 9 cents and the freight
companies get 2.5%,
An average of 9% of each dollar
goes to the school to support aca
demic programs and student activi-
Books continued on page 2
53 win in 1998 to capture the AMCC
hardware
The women’s game was scheduled
to follow the men’s championship
contest that took place at 2:00 p.m.
In the first game of the championship
double-header, Pitt-Greensburg
fought for a two-point victory win
ning 79-77. Pitt-Greensburg’s Jason
Trout could be considered the tour
nament MVP as he was named
AMCC Athlete of the Week follow
ing the conference tourney.
As the court cleared after Pitt-
Greensburg’s celebrations, the Lady
Lions took the floor for their contest
with Pitt-Bradford at 4:00 p.m. The
game was a classic as both teams
swapped the lead continuously
throughout the first half. The Behrend
women relied on the play of junior
guard Carrie Nestor and freshman for
ward Erin Phillips who combined for
39 of Behrend’s 61 points. Contribu
tions by all Lions’ players led to the
win and the first ever AMCC Cham
pionship.
An overwhelmed Benim com
mented, “Sunday was just a very spe
cial day for the women in particular.
It was a great game. It was nip and
tuck, back and forth. And to see them
pull it out and the celebration
afterward...good media coverage and
TV and cutting down the nets...the
whole nine yards. It was great. We
Full AMCC Tourney coverage
in the Sports Section
that book?
The on-campus bookstore
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certainly tip our cap to Coach Fornari
and her group.”
Behrend’s Nestor was then named
AMCC Athlete of the Week for her
clutch tournament play. She sparked
the Lions throughout the weekend in
all facets of her play.
The game was followed by the tro
phy presentation and cutting down of
the nets, as the packed Erie Hall
stayed in attendance. Head coach Roz
Fornari was recognized for winning
her 100th game in only her sixth sea-
The AMCC All-Conference Awards
were also announced throughout the
course of the weekend. Receiving
first team recognition were Chris
Jacklich - Pitt-Bradford, Jason Trout
- Pitt-Greensburg, Damian Hall -
Laßoche, and Brock Bovaird and
Andy Lawrence, both from the Be
hrend Lions. Second team consisted
of Matt Barnes - Pitt-Bradford, Chris
Horne - Pitt-Greensburg, Rod
Gallagher - Laßoche, and Jason
Paloskey and Chris Hughes of Be
hrend. Behrend’s Bovaird was also
recognized as the AMCC Player of the
Year and head coach Dave Niland was
named AMCC Coach of the Year.
The Lady Lions had no first team
AMCC continued on Page 2
photo by Mike Frawley