10 | The Behrend Beacon Lady Lion’s head into AMCC play undefeated By Amanda Defazio staff writer The Lady Lions are off to a roaring start. They started the season winning the championship tro phy at the Tip-Off tournament, beating both Juniata and Adrian. On Nov. 27, they beat Hiram in a nail biting victory, 50-47. High scorers of the game were sophomore Tenesha Aden, who was named Newcomer of the Year last year, and sophomore Rachel Slomski, a transfer student who is proving to be a vital part of the team. Aden and Slomski each put up 11 points. Sophomore Brittany Mays had a double- double, tearing up the boards with an impressive 10 re bounds and 10 points. Senior Amber Krumpe had seven, followed by junior Nikki Pacinelli with six. “Our offense has been consistent,’’ said Head Coach Roz Fomari. “Our focus tends to be post K.J. MARGRAFF/BEACON Senior Tom Lulich lead the team with 24 points closely followed by Cam Mascara and Jared Clough dishing out 20 a piece. The Lions fell to Westminster 99-109. The blue and white will look to senior veterans during the opening weekend of AMCC play. Men’s and women’s basketball December 3-4 /e % Dec 3 vs. Pitt Greensburg Dec. 4 vs< Frostburgh Women’s game @ 6 p.m. Women’s game 4 p.m. Men’s game @ 8 p.m. Men’s game <© 6 p.m. FREE POM POMS TO FIRST 50 FANS BOTH DAYS! HALFTIME GIVE AWAYS TO ROADHOUSE BOTH DAYS! / Jl f LIVE DOWNTOWN! T RJCNBUCD APARTMENIS tUCCCSirKOHaMDIA UnunESINCUUOCD IfitH lcung* nmcssccNTic tofAI KUfS rCEEOEUIV NviN tip iopo; to $e en repep rvCin ■; i rne'enemi UAHS STARTING AT 5299/PEDSON \ "a op by Today! menoian 814-231 www.nerkHwioßcallcgtavMMe.cMi oriented but we have a good group of talented guards that have made a huge difference.” Winning the Tip- Off Tournament gave the blue and white a taste of just how successful they could prove themselves to be. Their first game of the tournament was Satur day night against Juniata, which they won 77-66. Posting big numbers and performances were Pacinelli with 14 points and Aden with 13 points. Slomski made her first appearance as a Lady Lion an impressive one, dropping 12 points. Senior Captains Bambi Lewis scored 12 and Amber Krumpe had 10 along with 10 rebounds to match. The women made basketball look easy in Sunday’s Championship win against Adrian, post ing a solid 52 points to Adrian’s 43. Krumpe, Aden and Slomski were again high scorers. The team proved to be stable from the free throw line shooting 76.9 percent. This percentage may be what makes the difference in the upcoming rile fiow<£)fTys> Don’t catch the chill and miss out on die best apartments!! SPORTS weekend AMCC play. After the game, Pacinelli was named to the All-Tournament Team and Aden was given the admirable MVP award. “1 know we have a lot of room for improve ment but we have already made great strides since the beginning of the season,” said Fomari. “This is the first time since I have been here that we have won our Tip-Off Tournament,” said Lewis. This upcoming weekend will be the first taste of AMCC play for the Lady Lions, who were ranked NO. 1 in the preseason poll. Friday at 6 p.m.they will take on Pitt- Greensburg, who were ranked NO. 3. The teams previously met at last years AMCC regular season championship and AMCC tourna ment championship so there will be more bag gage then just their warm-ups when they come to Erie. Fomari expects this games to be “back and forth and intense as always.” Men’s basketball looks for hot hand in AMCC play By Brian Baffin staff writer The men’s basketball team tipped off its sea son with the Behrend Tip-off Tournament Nov. 18-19 and starts conference play in the AMCC this weekend. The Lions started the season off with a 71 - 58 win over Case Western Reserve Nov. 18 in the opening round of the tournament. The team went 11 of 23 from behind the three point line and grabbed 43 total rebounds. Se nior guard Tom Lulich led the way with 16 points while senior forward Jared Clough had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the double double. The blue and white advanced to the cham pionship game and faced Adrian College. They fell 63-58 despite a strong effort from senior forward Cam Mascara. Mascara came off the bench and led the team with 17 points. On Nov. 23 the team had their first road game traveling to Grove City. Despite shoot ing 48 percent from the field, the Lions fell 62-58. Doug Merski led the way with 13 points. “So far we have played a tough schedule,” said Head Coach Dave Niland. “If we can con tinue to improve I think we can be pretty solid.” Final races determine win Women race up to competition By Samantha Cibula sports co-editor It was the blue and white men swimmers that stole the spotlight Nov. 21. The men who were coming off of a lost to Gannon the day before traveled to Nazareth prepared to win. Determined to keep their record above .500 the men swam every race for every point. Whether it was a fourth place or first the men knew they needed to dominate the races in order to post a win. By the end of the 200 meter breaststroke emotions were running high knowing what had to be accomplished in the 400 meter freestyle relay. The men successfully com pleted an entire meet winning 125-103, keeping their record above .500 at 3-2. “The guys had to push a little harder competing in a meter pool,” said Head Coach Jen Slack. “The last 25 to 50 meters you could tell the difference from their ath letes who train in the meter pool everyday and ours.” Freshmen Dustin Fairchild, Anthony Spoto, Matt Seiferth and sophomore Brandon Thiel were all able to find their way to the wall first in their respected races. “There were many close races and we came out on top in some and Nazareth came out on top in others,” said Slack. Spoto continued to show dominance in the sprint events capturing the 50 and 100 meter freestyles. Fairchild and Thiel (Thiel also won the 100 meter back stroke) added another one-two finish in fire 200 meter freestyle, while Seiferth’s strong breaststroke leg helped him capture the 200 meter individual medley and a much needed win in the 200 meter breaststroke. The points came for the men first through fifth but a noticeable difference in scoring came down to the addi tion of one meter diving sensations freshmen Dan Wiltrout and Alejandro Neito. Wiltrout, who hit his head on three meter dive the night before at Gannon, got back on the one meter board for his team the next day at Nazareth. Wiltrout captured first place with a score of 170.45 beating out Nazareth’s junior diver Derek Ortiz by seven points. Neito rounded out Behrend’s diving placing third, scoring three additional points. “Having divers made a difference, they are a great addition for the men and women’s teams,” said Slack. “Dan was able to pull out a first place on the one meter board in a meet that remained close start to finish.” Friday, December 3, 2004 Saturday at 4 p.m., the blue and white will face Frostburg, who were ranked NO. 2. Fomari has acknowledged that this is a very talented group of girls. “Our team is prepared and excited to get into conference play,” said junior Kristie Connolly. “We have worked hard all preseason and are ready to come out this weekend with a 2-0 record in the conference, 5-0 overall.” Hopes are set high as the team prepares for this weekend. “We always play better for a packed house,” said Connolly. “ The more fans we can get to come out and watch the better.” Behrend heads into Friday’s game with an im pressive 3-0 record. Saturday’s game, at 4 p.m., will be televised as the Lady Lion’s take on Frostburgh. Fomari put it best when she said it is harder to stay on top then to get on top. But have faith Lady Lion fans, they are ready for the chal lenge. The Lions continue with a tough schedule with three games this week including two con ference games. On Nov. 30 they traveled to Westminster College. Westminster took the win 99-109, but Behrend saw stand out perfor mances from seniors Tom Lulich who had 24 points, while Cam Mascara and Jared Clough chipped in 20 a piece. Westminster shot 44 percent from behind the arc going 22 for 50. Behrend hosts two games over the weekend against Pitt Greensburg on Dec. 3 and against Frostburg State on Dec. 4. “This week we face three very good teams, and we open league play against the preseason number one and number two teams,” said Coach Niland. Pitt-Greensburg was chosen as the preseason number one team to take the AMCC champi onship title and Frostburg State was number two. Behrend was chosen number three in the preseason poll. With a record of 1-3 the Lions look to get things rolling this weekend and get back on the winning track. So far this season Lulich is lead ing the team in scoring with 13.7 points per game. Clough is leading the team in rebounds with 8.0 per game. As a team they are averag ing 62.3 points per game and are shooting 42 percent from the field. The men’s meet came down to the 200 meter breast stroke and the 400 meter freestyle relay. The men needed to pull out a win in the 200 meter breaststroke which was left in the hands of Seiferth. “I knew I had to win the race, and I was nervous going into it,” said Seiferth. “Breaststroke is my event though, and I knew I could pull out a win.” The win set the men up for the 400 meter relay where they took first and second. “Even though the pool was in meters we didn’t let that stop us,” said Spoto. “We still went out to swim fast and win!” The women fell short of a win against Nazareth drop ping to 1-4. In spite of the lost freshman Cyndi Morales continued to make waves through the swimming com munity posting wins in the 800 and 400 meter freestyle. At the Gannon meet the day before Morales out swam Gannon’s division II distance lineup placing first in the 500 and 1000 yd. freestyle events. Freshman Melissa Pilewski, who currently holds the 100 and 200 yd breaststroke team records placed first for the women in the 200 meter breaststroke. Although the women’s record drops to 1 -4 they were able to capitalize on close races the night before against Gannon University. Sophomore Whitney Marshall put the heat to Gannon’s Brenna Pease in the 200 yd freestyle. Marshall, with a time 0f2:02.95, was just out touched by Pease who won with a time of 2:01.28. Sophomore Brittany Yost also raced up to the division II competition swimming personal best in the 50 and 100 yd. freestyle and knocked Gannon out of a 1- 2 sweep in the 50 yd. freestyle. “Brittany had personal best in Gannon’s pool,” said Slack. “Itprovedthatitdoesn’tmatterwhoyou’reswim ming against or in what pool you can still get up and race. Racing Gannon for first and second spots showed the blue and white swim teams are taking steps in the right direction. The team looks to take a few more powerful steps in the right direction as they head to Wooster Invitational Dec. 2-4. “Going into preliminaries at Wooster we already have many of the swimmers seeded high,” said Slack. The invitational will have both prelims and finals.