Page 10
The Behrend Beacon
en's basketball streak broke
by Kevin Fiorenzo
sports editor
The men's basketball team earned a non
conference win on Wednesday night when they
defeated Hilbert 63-46, rebounding from their first
conference loss of the season to Laßoche on
Saturday night
On Wednesday, the Lions had a non conference
game with 5-18 Hilbert. The Lions overpowered
Hilbert throughout the game and were able to come
away with the easy win on the road
The Behrend squad was led by junior guard Tom
Lulich with 17 points. Senior center James Curren
contributed a double-double with 12 points and 11
rebounds. Junior forward Jared Clough had 10
points
The win was a good sign that the men were
rebounding from their disappointing two-point loss
at La Roche last Saturday
Coming into that game, the Lions were the
owners of an undefeated 10-0 AMCC record and
were 20-1 overall
In the first half, the Lions came out playing very
well and went into halftime leading 36-24. In the
second half, though, La Roche came out playing
much better offensively and defensively, squeaking
out the 60-58 upset victory
The Lions were led offensively by Curren with
16 points and six rebounds. Junior forward Cam
Mascara added 14 points. The Bobcats were led
on the offensive end by Brandon Kelly with 29
points
Sophomore guard Justin Jennings said, "Our
defensive pressure wasn't as good as it usually is
for us."
The loss gave the Lions their first defeat of the
season in the AMCC and only their second loss
overall for the year. The Lions also dropped out of
the Division 111 national rankings after reaching a
high of No. 19 last week
"We were getting too confident and too
comfortable, so the loss to Laßoche was a wake
up call for us," said Jennings
With their win versus Hilbert, the Lions
improved their overall record to 21-2. They have
also already clinched the home court advantage for
the AMCC Tournament, starting next Friday. The
Women's basketball looks to host AMCC's
Winner of Saturday's game against Pitt-Greensburg will host the AMCC Tournament
by Scott Soltis
assistant managing editor
Behrend will wrap up its regular season this
weekend in the Junker Center against rival Pitt-
Greensburg.
A win by the Lions over the Bobcats would clinch
both the AMCC regular season crown as well as
home court for the Championships. The two teams
are currently tied atop the AMCC standings at 10-
1.
The rivalry between the Lions and the Bobcats
stems from last year's AMCC Championships
where Pitt-Greensburg ended Behrend's season in
the Championship game.
When the two clashed earlier this season, Pitt-
Greensburg prevailed in a barn-burner, 72-71. The
Lions look to take advantage of home court in this
game, as there are several promotions to try and
get fans out to support the team.
In the January meeting, Behrend's defense had
a hard time shutting down Pitt-Greensburg's highly
touted offense as well as its star Annie Sral.
Sral dropped 18 on the Lions as part of her stellar
season. She has a very hot hand coming into the
game this weekend, scoring 32 and 34 in
consecutive games last week.
If there is a defense in the AMCC that can stop
Sral and the Bobcats, it is the top-ranked Lions.
Behrend is allowing a measly 52.5 points per game
and opponents are only shooting 36.2 percent from
the field when they face the Lions.
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Athlete
of the
Week
The Lions' loss to Lake Erie ended the team's 13 game winning streak. The team
quickly rebounded against Hilbert, winning 63-46.
Lions are also the owners of the No. 1 scoring
defense in the nation
Jennings said, "We're always working hard and
our defensive pressure has been good except for
against Laßoche."
While the conference tournament is looming,
the Lions still have one more regular season game
The Lady Lions look to take control of the AMCC when they go up against Pitt-Greensburg
on Saturday at the Junker Center
One major reason the Lions are so strong on
defense is their AMCC top ranked rebounding
defense only allowing 35.8 rebounds per contest.
The Lions are being led this year by a duo of
phenomenal freshmen in Tenesha Aden and
Brittany Mays. Aden and Mays are leading the
squad in points and rebounds per game. Aden is
averaging 12.2 points and 6 boards, while Mays is
scoring 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest.
Brandon Thiel
,
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Friday, February 20, 2004
against Pitt-Greensburg at the Junker Center on
Saturday. Pitt-Greensburg is Behrend's closest
competitor in the AMCC and will be looking to
avenge its 81-66 loss to the Lions on Jan. 28
"They like to run the floor and their team is starting
to come around now. We're just going to have to
keep the pressure up on them," said Jennings
Behrend will also look to key support from senior
Erica Mozdy. The team will have to work together
on defense and hold the Bobcats well under the 72
they allowed in the last meeting.
This match will determine whether the Lions have
momentum heading into home AMCC playoffs or a
point to prove heading to Pitt-Greensburg for the
Championships.
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by Samantha Cibula
The men and women swimmers ended their
season at the Grove City Invitational Feb 12-14.
Both the men and women took home sixth place.
The men tallied 278 points during the three
day meet, while the women scored 243 points.
Both teams also beat conferance rival Penn State
Altoona. The three-day meet consisted
of preliminaries, consolations and finals. After
the preliminary swim if swimmers placed 9th
16th you came back at night to swim in consola
tions, and if the swimmers placed Ist-Bth they
came back for finals.
"Everyone seemed a little nervous for their first
race, but the second day...you just can't describe."
said head coach Jen Slack. "The third day is
hard to come back on but the team pushed through
and continued to place in consolations and finals."
The entire women's swim team made it back
for consolation or finals in either an event or a
Senior captain Tara Braden
and freshman Whitney Marshall competed in fi
nals in individual events. Braden placed Bth in
the 200 yd breastroke and 7th in the 100 yd
breastroke. Marshall, who individually placed
the highest for the ladies, placed 6th in the 100
yd butterfly and Bth in the 200 yd butterfly.
"It was satisfying to see our hard work pay
off," said senior captain Sarah McGarvey. "Ev
eryone swam their fastest times. It was an incred
ible three
days."
The women's 200. 400, and 800 yd freestyle
relays, and the 400 yd medley relay placed in the
top six and all broke the team records. Adding to
the record-breaking relays was Marshall's 200 yd
freestyle, 500 yd freestyle, 100 yd freestle, and
200 yd butterfly. Freshman distance swimmer
Alexis Puhala also broke her 1650 yd freestyle
team record.
"Everyone swam awesome and with a lot of
heart," said Marshall. "We worked really hard
all season and it showed during our races for three
straight days."
"It was just a great experience, and a great way
to end the season. The girls had close races, and
everyone raced to the wall," said Jen Slack.
"Alison Jaskolski swam stroke for stroke next to
a girl in the 2(X) yd freestyle and at the end just
out touched her. It was so close that you couldn't
tell by looking at the pool who won," said Slack.
"I just saw her hand at the end of the race and
decided I'd beat her," said Jaskolski.
The men also saw their fastest times of the sea
son, sending close to everyone back for consola
tions or finals. Along with personal best times,
freshman Brandon Thiel broke the first team
record for the men this season.
Thiel broke the mens 500 yd freestyle team
record (sth place) and the 200 yd freestyle record
(4th place).
"I was at the top of my game, and as each race
came I felt stronger and faster," said Thiel. "I
trusted my ablities and I didn't let the days of
competition wear me down."
Joining Thiel in top finishes were senior cap
tain Eric Phillips (sth 400 yd individual medley
relay, sth 200 yd breastroke), sophomore Steve
Schleicher
(7th 1000 yd freestyle) and freshman Kent
McKee (6th 400 individual medley,Bth 200 yd
backstroke). The men also placed
in the top seven for the 200, 400 and 800 yd
freestyle relays, and the 200, and 400 medley
relays.
"The taper was nothing like my high schools
taper, and it had me thinking that I wasn't ready
for the meet," said McKee. "There was no need
for doubt, becaues our coaches know how to train
us and the team and I swam our best times."
"It was an awesome meet, you can't really ex
lain it " he said.
staff writer