Page 10
The Behrend Beacon
Women go to OT
by Kevin Fiorenzo
staff writer
The women’s basketball team played
two extremely close games this past
week, winning one in overtime against
Frostburg and coming heartbreakingly
close to winning against Lake Erie.
On Jan 15, Behrend was on the road
at Lake Erie for an important conference
matchup. The game was tight the whole
way as both teams got solid perfor
mances from all of their players. The
Lions were led throughout the game by
point guard Erica Mozdy, who scored 12
points, and Amber Krumpe’s 18 points.
They also caught some help from fresh
man guard Danielle Freeburg.
While Behrend’s whole team played
solidly. Lake Erie performed just as well
and outplayed Behrend in some key ar
eas. Lake outrebounded the Behrend
squad and didn’t commit as many sig
nificant turnovers.
“We didn’t play good defense, we
didn’t rebound well, and we had too
many turnovers. When you don’t play a
well-rounded game in conference play,
you normally don’t win,” said Krumpe.
The women were determined that the
outcome would be different in their next
game, another conference game away
from home at Frostburg. The game
lions heating up
by Zoe Rose
contributing writer
With the wind chill in the negatives,
the Penn State men’s basketball team
is still able to keep some heat going with
game. A little more than halfway done
with the season, Behrend has main
tained its front-runner position in the
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Con
ference (3-1) and has a 9-5 non-confer
ence marie on the season.
Behrend’s skillful 6-6 center James
Curren surpassed the 1,000 point mark
during the Frostburg State game. With
1, 007 career points, Curren is pursu
ing Don Plyler (90-94) with 1,079.
Curren is currently second in the league
with field goal percentage and fourth
in scoring, earning him regular national
attention.
It was up to Curren to bring
Behrend back into the game against
conference rival Frostburg State last
Saturday. The Bobcats were in control
the entire first half of action, as they
quickly grabbed a 23-8 lead in 11 min
utes of play. Behrend began to shine
some light on the courts as Curren took
over, scoring nine points in a 12-4 spurt
that brought the squad within 35-31
with a little over three minutes on the
clock. Frostburg State came back drill
ing a three-pointer to take a 38-33 lead
going into the locker room.
The Lions trailed throughout the
entire contest, making several charges
before they crawled within three, 63-
60 with 12 seconds left. Curren posted
game-highs of 24 points and 12 re
bounds, followed by Joe Lucas and
David Hairston with nine a piece.
Behrend had trouble overcoming the
poor start, and shot 7 for 22 for 31.8
percent in the second half. The Bobcats
pulled away with a hard-fought win 65-
60.
Casey Ponsoll has been a constant offensive performance so far this season.
Q&A with iOOb point scorer James Curren i
would prove to be another close, hard
fought contest. Guard Carly Cochranled
Behrend with 21 points. As in the pre
vious contest, the team got strong sup
port from Krumpe and her 20-point per
formance. Like the last game, both
teams played hard the whole way
through and at the end of regulation the
two teams were deadlocked at 67.
In overtime, the deciding factor proved
to be the team’s performances at the foul
line. Behrend reached the line more fre
quently and was 9-12 in free throws in
OT. This advantage put the Lions over
top and gave them an impressive 78-75
victory.
Krumpe said, “ We were able to con
vert on our foul shots, and that was big.
We got their big players to foul out, and
that led us to the win.”
The win raised Behrend’s record to 3-
1 in conference, and 7-8 overall, putting
them in position to reach .500 with a win
on Jan 25 against La Roche. The team
is confident about its chances.
To beat La Roche we need to play
great team defense and really push the
ball up the floor on offense. They don’t
play very good defense, so we need to
execute and pound the ball into the post,
which is their weakness,” said Krumpe.
The squad turned things
around, however, when they wel
comed Fredonia State to their
home turf on Thursday. Cold
shooting by the Blue Devils
helped the Lions in gaining a4l -
26 lead at the half. Continuing his
strong presence on the court,
Curren led all scorers with 19
points and a game-high seven
boards. Casey Ponsoll followed
with 14 and six rebounds, and
Hairston added 10 to the score.
The Lions kept their free
throws well above average dur
ing the second half, shooting (5-
7) for 71.4 percent. Behrend
stayed in complete control mak
ing (1 0-20) from inside the arc for
50 percent,compared to
Fredonia’s (9-25) for 36 percent
during the second half. The Li
ons dominated the Blue Devils in
three-pointers, holding them to
(1-6) for a measly 16.7 percent,
with hot shooting from Ponsoll
and Joe Lucas, Behrend sank
three of six in the second half.
Behrend next looks to host
conference rival La Roche Satur
day with an 8 pm tip-off. Follow
ing a visit to Oberlin on Monday,
the Lions will have back-to-back,
conference match-ups at the
1 |
Junker Center hosting Pitt- 1
Bradford on Jan 29 and Penn!
State Altoona on the first. i
Friday, January 24, 2003
Indoor track roars out of the blocks
With training time lost due to the term
break, the men and women’s indoor track
and field teams attempted to head into
the Fredonia Invitational with only five
days of practice under their belt.
“We had practiced for two weeks prior
to Christmas break and then started up
again on Jan 13 for our meet on the 18.
That made training difficult, as our ath
letes had to train at home, if possible.
Our expectations were to improve per
formances from a year ago at Fredonia,”
said head coach Dave Cooper.
Cooper’s young team did more than
just improve their performances from a
year ago. The women’s team set four
new Behrend records and qualified fresh
man thrower Laura Maras for ECACs,
while the men’s team set two new
Behrend records at Fredonia.
“The teams were ready and anxious
to compete,” said Cooper.
The individual results of the meet
seemed to show the tenacity of this
young team. Maras hurled the shot put
37-3 1/4 for third place. Maras mark
shattered the previous indoor record of
23-3 held by Adrianne Abney. The throw
also puts her in line to break the outdoor
shot put record of 36-1 by Amy Mudrak
in 1997.
Another freshman who made an im
mediate impact was Staci Banaszek.
Banaszek finished second in the triple
Beacon: How does it feel to be in some elite Current lam not exactly sure of the play in •
company in Behrend’s 1,000 point club? which I hit 1,000, because it was a close •
Current To be in the company of the other game, and the game wasn’t stopped. So to
players in Behrend’s 1,000 point club is a tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell you about
great accomplishment. There have been the play
some real good players to play at Behrend,
and to be in the same group as some of them
is a great honor.
Beacon: Going into Saturday night, did you
think you’d hit the 1,000 point milestone in
that game?
Current I was trying not to think about
whether I would hit 1,000 during the
Frostburg. I won’t say I didn’t think about it
all, but I was definitely more focused on
winning the game. Which, unfortunately, we
couldn’t pull out the win.
Beacon: Could you walk us through the
play where you broke the 1,000 mark?
by Lauren Packer
assistant sports editor
jump, third in the high jump, and re
corded new Behrend records in each
event. Banaszek went 34-1/4 in the triple
and 4- 10 1/4 in the high jump.
Cross-country stars Jess Knapp and
Jessica Sarver also helped pace the
women’s squad this past weekend.
Sarver finished third in the 4 X 400 re
lay, along with teammates Amanda Van
Tassel, Claire Manelick and Bethany
Crooks. Sarver also placed fourth in the
1500 meters in 5:04.24 and fifth in the
800 meters in 2:31.56.
Knapp broke the record for the 1000
meter with a time of 3:21.24 for a fifth
place finish. Knapp held the previous
record for the 1000 meter.
The lack of organized training did not
seem to shake the women’s team or the
men’s team
“When you have to train on your own,
you tend to step it back a bit. You don’t
have your teammates to push you. For
six new records to be set and the women
to qualify for ECACs, I’d say it was a
very productive meet for us,” said Dave
Masilunas.
Cooper expected a lot from his ath
letes and his athletes responded. Corey
Pulson and Jason Kuntz broke two
records. While Isiah Meek, Mike
Barlett, and Masilunas are all within
striking distance of new records and first
place finishes.
Pulson placed fifth in the shot put and
set the new Behrend record with a dis
Beacon: Hitting 1,000 in the middle of your
junior season has given you plenty of time to
chase the all-time school record of 1,466.
Which would be bigger for you in your
senior season; leading the Lions to an
AMCC title, or becoming the Behrend’s all
time leading scorer?
Current I am not thinking about breaking
the school’s all-time scoring record.
Especially now in the middle of trying to win
the AMCC’s and make it to a postseason
tournament. People have already said things
to me about breaking the record, but what
ever happens, I would much rather help lead
the team as far as we can possibly go, this
Scott Soltis, Sports Editor
tanceof4l-7 1/4. Kuntz finished fourth
in the 200 meter and set a new record
with a time of 24.14.
Meek placed first in the 55 meter
hurdles with a time of 8.08, just .03 sec
onds off the Behrend record which Meek
holds. Masilunas finished fourth in the
55 meter hurdles and was just .58 sec
onds off Meek at Fredonia. Barlett fin
ished third in the 800 meter and needs
only to drop seven seconds off his time
of 2:06.67 to break another record.
Behrend heads into this weekend’s
invitational at Slippery Rock with a new
mindset on training. Based on the team’s
performances without organized train
ing, Masilunas says that the Lions plan
to step it up in practice this week and
really come out roaring at Saturday’s
meet.
“We are hitting it hard in practice this
week based on the mindset that coach
has to break us down to build us back
up. Our confidence is higher and our
mental preparation is definitely higher
than last week. We will be better with a
meet and a week of intense practice un
der our belt,” said Masilunas.
“We have a good team atmosphere so
far. We have some of the best coaches
around, and coach Cooper really has
things rolling. We are going to do good
this year. If we stay healthy and keep
kids running, we’re going to be real
good.”
Housing
and
Food Service
Athlete
of the Week
pennState
jwpErie
.Laura
(Maras
SPORT: Women's
Indoor Track A Field
CL/ASS: Freshman
DATE: Monday
Jan. 20
Laura Maras (Bethel
Park/Bethel Park) was
named this week's
Beacon/Food and
Housing Athlete of
the Week.
Maras established a
new school record for
the women's shot put
with a throw
of 37 feet 3.25
inches. With her
performance Maras
also qualified to
compete in the ECAC
Championships in late
February.
Next up for the men's
and women's track A
field teams will be
another indoor event
at Slippery Rock on
Saturday.
Housing and Food
Service Athlete of
the Week is selected
by the Sports
Information Staff