Page 14 The Behrend Beacon Alone at the top Behrend knocks off con James Curren, the Lions sfense came to play again: Behrend women set back twice this week by Scott Soltis sports editor The Lions had an up and down week winning at home against Altoona, but losing at Pitt- Bradford. In between the women dropped an out of confernce game at home against Buffalo State. At Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday the team went into the locker room at halftime with a slim 30-28 lead. However, this lead was squandered as the Lions were outscored 38-23 in the second half. When the clock ran out the scoreboard read 66-53 Panthers. A big reason for the team’s loss was poor 3-point shooting They were 1-14 from behind the three point line. The Lions shot just 34 percent from the field. This was another facor in the team's loss. A bright spot for the Lions was 16 point performances by Carly Cochran and Amber Krumpe. The loss dropped the Lions record to 6-2 in AMCC play and 10-10 overall. The Lions fell back to second place in the AMCC after a week-long stint as the top team. The team also dropped a game in the Junker Center on Sunday to risive star, shined brightly against Pitt Buffalo State. The Lions were unable to overcome a 12 point deficit at the half. The Lions came closer in the second half, but it was not enough with a fi nal score of 57-43. Behrend’s standout in this game was Erica Mozdy, who yanked down 12 rebounds. The lone victory for the Lions came on Sat. against inter-Uni versity rival Penn State Altoona. The Lions beat the Lions 55-46. The team was lead by Krumpe, who had 20 points and eight re- bounds The team hopes to get back on track this week with back to back home games against Frostburg and Lake Erie. The Lions are undefeated in the Junker Center against AMCC teams, and if that trend contin ues, the Behrend could be back on top by the end of the week. SHORTS Friday, February 7, 2003 rence rivals to take sole possession of first place By Zoe Rose and Scott Soltis contributing writer and sports editor The Penn State Behrend men's bas ketball team just keeps doing what it set out to do at the beginning of the season. With six games left before tournament action begins, the Lions are sitting atop the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Con ference, They solidified their position with a 62-57 win at Pitt-Bradford Wednesday. It was the classic matchup of offense versus defense in the game for AMCC bragging rights. Pitt-Bradford boasted the top offense in the AMCC, averag ing 83.1 points per game. The Panthers are led by Matt Beacom, who was last week’s ECAC Player of the Week. This offensive powerhouse collided with the Lions, who are ranked first in the AMCC in scoring defense allowing a stingy 56.6 points per game. This ranks the defense ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense among Divi sion 111 schools. When the two teams met earlier in the season at Behrend, the Lions prevailed. Sophomore guard Tom Lulich talked about the team’s preparation. “We already beat them once so we knew what we had to do to beat them." Much like in the Super Bowl of a few weeks ago, defense prevailed. Behrend iir Lion squad under Guard Erica Mozdy has facilitated much of the Lions scoring this season. She leads the team in assists and is second in rebounds. points held Pitt-Bradford to a meager 57 points. Behrend got a huge performace from offensive standout, James Curren. Curren had 24 points and also eight re bounds for the Lions. This was a big win for the Lions giv ing them sole possession of first place in the AMCC, the season sweep of Pitt- Bradford, and also snapped a 15 game win streak for Pitt-Bradford. All are major accomplishments. Lulich and everyone else on the court that night knew the magnitude of the game. “Both teams knew it was gonna be a big game. Both teams came out with alot of intensity," said Lulich. “We just played harder and we wanted to beat them more.” Three straight wins in a row have boosted the Lions to a 7-1 conference record. Their only loss came against Frostburg a few weeks ago. The Lions helped their overall record to 13-6 against in-school rival Penn State Altoona in front of a home crowd at the Junker Center. They sent them packing with a score of 50-41 on Satur day. In front of 275 enthusiastic fans, Behrend jumped all over Altoona in the first half. Altoona came into the matchup 0-18 overall which places them last in the conference. Scott Soltis , Sports Editor Jared Clough led Behrend with 14 points and six rebounds followed by Curren’s first single digit game of nine points The game had some flare in the sec ond half Altoona made a slight attempt at closing the gap with 36 seconds re maining, 49-41. The Lions hung on with a 50-41 win. Behrend had a tough time making three-pointer's in the second half, going 0-6. They were 14-18 from the free throw line for 77.8 percent for the game, Altoona made only one of six for 16.7 percent. The Lions still lead the conference in free-throw percentage, with 73.6 fol lowed by Frostburg with 70.3%. Next up for the Lions will be two home games against Frostburg (Satur day) and Lake Erie (Wednesday) fol lowed by consecutive away games at La Roche and Carnegie Mellon. The Lions hope to avenge their lone loss Saturday with the hoem crowd behind them. The AMCC tournament officially begins on February 26. Housing and Food Service Athlete of the Week PENNSTATE jpErie ‘Amber ‘Krumve SPORT: Women's Basketball CLASS: Sophomore DATE: Feb. 3 Amber Krumpe (Erie/ Mercyhurst Prep) was named this week's Beacon/Food and Housing Athlete of the Week. In the overtime win against previously undefeated Pitt- Sreensburg last Wednesday, Krumpe posted 12 points and lead the team in re bounding with 12. On Saturday's game against Altoona she scored 20 points and had 8 rebounds, leading the team in both. Although losing to Buffalo State on Sunday in a non conf rence game, Krumpe posted ten points and had 3 rebounds. The blue and white are now 10-9 and 6-1 in the AMCC. Housing and Food Ser vice Athlete of the Week is selected by the Sports Information Staff.