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The Behrend Beacon
One Win Away
Behrend closes In on AMCC regular-season tine after
posting wins over Frostburg, lake Erie
Sophomore guard Tom Lulich led the Lions against Frostburg with 24 points,
in 12 more against Lake Erie to complement teammate James Curren’s 30 p
Still
Behrend women get convincing wins
by Kevin Fiorenzo
staff writer
With convincing wins over Frostburg
State and Lake Erie, the women’s bas
ketball team is back on track after two
tough losses the week before.
On Saturday, the Lady Lions hosted
a rematch against Frostburg State.
Their earlier game had been a thriller
that ended up going to overtime, with
Behrend eventually pulling out the win.
In the first half of the game Satur
the boards pulling down 23 rebounds in the
Lions last two wins.
J ' ««c\ W x
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in the hunt
day, it looked like Frostburg was well
on its way to getting revenge. Going
into the half, Frostburg was leading 30-
23.
After the intermission, though, the
Lions came storming back with impres
sive play from all of their key players.
When all was said and done, they
outplayed Frostburg in the second half
and eventually won the game 73-66.
Leading the way for the Behrend
squad was point guard Erica Mozdy,
who had 24 points, three rebounds, and
four assists. Also con
tributing was forward
Amber Krumpe, with
12 points and nine re
bounds, and guard
Carly Cochran, who
added 11 points and
- h ... • ‘i
x rebounds.
The women returned
to court for another
home contest on
Wednesday, against
team’s last two games
SPORTS
Friday, February 14, 2003
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He pitched
loints.
Lake lirie. This game was also a
rematch and Behrend was looking for
revenge. In the earlier match up, the
Lions lost a heartbreaker 59-58 for their
first-ever loss against Lake Erie.
Most of this game, it was an up and
down affair. Behrend built a comfort
able lead, but allowed Lake Erie to
come close. Eventually, the Lions
pulled away for good and got the vic
. tory by a score of 69-59.
Once again, the stars of the game
were Mozdy, with 18 points, and
Krumpe, who had a double-double
with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Behrend learned from earlier mis
takes at Lake Erie, and did not make
them twice
“We didn’t dig ourselves a hole like
we did in the first game. It's easier to
maintain a lead than it is to come back
from a deficit. And we also only had
12 turnovers, which is really good for
us,” said Krumpe.
“We ran our offenses with a little
by Zoe Rose
contributing writer
Going into last week, the Behrend Lions had two
choices. They could let Frostburg get the season
sweep on them, and then drop another game to Lake
Erie. Or, they could just win.
Win and all but lock up the AMCC crown, or
lose and have a fight to the finish for the title. On
Saturday the team needed to start off the week right
with a strong performance from their starters. They
delivered.
One cannot call the Penn State Behrend men’s
basketball team inconsistent now. There was a time
when the team could have been criticized for
winning at home and stuggling on the road. The
Lions current winning streak has silenced all of
those critics. The team has won its last five games
both away and home. Their record has sky-rocketed
to 9-1 in the AMCC and 15-6 overall.
It’s not over yet, though.
Behrend is tightening its lock on the top spot in
the conference, but still have four games left untill
the playoffs begin. Behrend can clinch the regular
season conference title with a victory over La Roche
this Saturday. Basically, Behrend has to lose out
not to be the sole winner of the AMCC.
Last Saturday, the Lions invited Frostburg State
to their home court and showed them what their
w inning streak meant, scoring a 77-58 win over the
Bobcats. Lulich led the Lions on offense with 24
points on six three-pointers, and assisted in not
letting Frostburg rally back after the second half
started.
David Hairston led two other Lions into double
digits with 20 points and grabbed a team-high eight
rebounds. Behrend kept the Bobcats to 42.1 percent
shooting only allowing them to make eight of 19
attempts. The Lions held the advantage making 15
of 27 attempts for 55.6 percent.
Next on the agenda for moving closer to the
more patience. We also picked up our
defensive effort. We played consistent
on the defensive end.”
The win against Lake Erie raised the
Lions record to 12-10 overall, 8-2 in
the AMCC, a game back of Pitt-
Greensburg.
Next up for the Behrend squad is a
game on the road against La Roche. In
their first game, the Lions won com
fortably 48-36 and know what they
need to do to win again.
“We need to shut down their main
scorers and make sure that we use our
defense to create our offense by get
ting some touches and running the
floor,” said Krumpe.
“We need to get up and down the
floor quickly and utilize our speed,”
added Fornari. “We will focus on a
couple of key players they have and be
aggressive defensively. Our players
will need to shoot their open shots and
attack the basket.”
Now that there are only a few games
left in the season, the
women are aware of
e challenges that lie
ahead of them.
“We need to play our
game and work hard,”
said Fornari. “We
have the talent and
seem to play well on
the road. I am confi
dent in this group and
we are in control of
r own destiny.”
“Our biggest chal
lenge down the
stretch is to play con
sistently for 40 min
utes with no let
downs,” said
Krumpe. “If we do
that then we will be
able to beat La Roche
and Pitt-Greensburg
next week and hope
fully host the confer
ence tournament.”
Scott Soltis , Sports Editor
AMCC regular season title was Lake Erie.
The two teams played toe-to-toe through much
of the first 30 minutes of action, but with 10 minutes
left to play. Behrend pulled ahead 50-43 and kept a
steady lead until the end. The Storm were outscored
36-30 in the second half and never got closer than
six with 1:30 left to go.
Behrend was led by Curren. who with 58 seconds
left in the game, reached the game-high 30 points
on 13-15 from the field. This was the second time
this season that Curren reached the 30 point plateau,
the first occuring at drove City.
Lulich pitched in 1 2 while Hairston added 10 and
grabbed seven rebounds.
The Lions wrap up their home schedule against
Medaille on the Eeb 20. The team will be going
into action away against conference rival La Roche
on Saturday and Carnegie Mellon on Tuesday. The
last game of the season will take place at Pitt-
Greensburg on the Eeb. 22. The Allegheny
Mountain Collegiate Conference play begins
February 26' I '.
Housing
and
Food Service
Athlete
of the Week
pennState
Fmi
LuCicd
SPORT: Men's
Basketball
CLASS: Sophomore
DATE: Feb. 10
Tom Lulich (Canonsburg/
Peters Township) was
named this week's
Beacon/Food and Hous
ing Athlete of the
Week.
Lulich helped the Lions
past Frostburg and Lake
Erie this week. He hit 8
of 11 from the field
including 6 of 9 from
three point land. His
game high 24 pushed
Behrend to a 77-58 win.
Lulich also contributed 5
rebounds, 2 assists, and
a block.
Lulich continued his big
week on Wednesday
against Lake Erie. Lulich
only shot three pointers
in the game and con
nected on 4 out of 5 of
them. His 12 points
helped the Lions to a
67-58 win clinching the
AMCC regular season
title.
Housing and Food Ser
vice Athlete of the
Week is selected by the
Sports Information
Staff.