Friday, February 27, 2009
Lady Lions fall to Medaille in AMCC semifinals
By Christine Newby
spoils editor
censos6(cupw edu
The Lady Lions basketball
team ended their 2008-2009 sea
son on Tuesckty night when they
lost to the Medallle Mavericks
69-60 in the AMCC semifinal
game.
"Our team struggled in both
halves offensively," said head
coach Roz Fomari. "We didn't
seem to get comfortable in any
offensive set :nst their zone."
DANIEL SMITH/Theßehrendßeacon
Top: Senior gum! Natalie Engel dribbles towanis the basket.
Bottom: Sophomore Rachel Richadson passes the ball off to teammate Kelly Nowacinski.
ENTERPRISE RENT-A-GAR
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Stevenson had a solid week leading the Behrend Lions to a first place finish at the Kenyon Classic on
Saturday. The Blue and White finished the meet with 153 points. Stevenson led the Behrend Lions in
the 4x200 meter relay team that set the school record with a time of 1:35.82. Stevenson would go on
to win both the 200 meter dash and the 55 meter dash in the time of 23.91 and 6.65, respectively.
The Blue and White will be back in action on Feb. 28 at the Marietta Open. The Behiend Lions .will
then take part in the ECAC championships on March 6-7 and finish the indoor season at the NCAA
championships on March 13-14.
SENIORS HONORED IN LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME
The AMCC started 11 years
ago and Behrend has been in the
semifinal AMCC game for II
straight years. Medaille has cap
tured three consecutive AMCC
regular season and conference
tournament titles.
Behrend was behind for the
majority of the first half. With
1:09 remaining in the first half,
sophomore guard Rachel
Richardson hit a three-pointer, her
second of the game, which put
the Lady Lions down by four 33-
29.
Doug Stevenson
Men's Track & Field
Junior
SPORTS
Richardson, named the AMCC
Player of the Week, went 75 per
cent from the field by converting
on three-of-four shots and led
Behind with ten points going
into the second half.
Rebounding in the first half of
play proved to be almost even.
Medaille grabbed 19 while
Etehrend had 18.
Behrend was down by six
points after the first half 29-35.
The Behrend Lions did not start
the second half well as the
Mavericks went on a 10-0 run
which made the game 31-43 with
17:15 to go in the game.
With ten minutes remaining,
the Blue and White were down by
17 points. The Lions did not
give up as they tried to diminish
the Mavericks lead.
`Our shots were not falling but
my players never gave up," said
Fomari. "They never da."
At the 1:30 mark, sophomore
guard Kelly Nowacinski stole the
ball and scored a layup which
made the game 55-62 in favor of
Medai I le.
Despite their effort, the Lady
Lions came up short as Medaille
made five-of-six foul shots.
Senior guard Natalie Engel and
Richardson led Behrend with 14
points each. Sophomore guard
Amy Oldach led in assists with
six, and Nowacinski tallied the
most steals for Behrend with five.
"We just didn't play well
enough to win," said Fomari.
"We would make a good play but
folloW it up with something that
wasn't so good. It was disap
pointing because it wasn't out of
a lack of hustle."
Three days before the loss
against Meckiille, the Lady Lions
played Pitt-Bradford.
The Behrend Lions were victo
rious over Pitt-Bradford 84-74 on
Saturday, Feb. 21. The win earned
them a number four seed in the
AMCC Tournament.
The two seniors, Natalie Engel
and Ellen Kolos, were honored
before the game as they played
their last regular season home
game at the Junker Center.
"They are both great leaders,"
said head coach Roz Fomari.
"Academically they are of the
highest caliber student-athletes
here. They have impacted our
program in ways that others
haven't and they both know that.
I am proud of both of them."
After playing for the women's
basketball team at Behrend for
four years, Engel and Kolos hope
they left a mark on the program.
"As a fun person to be around
and play with and coach, - said
Engel when asked what mark she
wanted to leave. "As one part of
a really fun and talented team and
program."
Nowacinski started the scoring
for the Lady Lions as she stole
the basketball and made a layup.
In an out of bounds play,
Richardson gave a bounce pass to
Nowacinski who converted on a
jump shot which tied the game at
six.
Pitt-Bradford went on a 17-2
run to create a 15 point advantage
after 12 minutes of play. The
score was 10-25 in favor of Pitt-
Bradford.
The Lions then cut Pitt-
Bradford's lead down by going on
a 9-0 run.
With 4:35 left in the first half,
Kolos drained a three-pointer.
Freshman guard Chelsea Pruckner
continued the run by hitting a
jump shot in the middle of the
key and sophomore guard Amy
Oldach made a layup. At the 2:12
mark, Nowacinski scored a layup
DANIEL SMITH/Theßehrendßeacon
Top: Sophomore Kelly Nowacinski dribbles past the Mek,ille defender.
Bottom: Freshman Kim Pol looks to pass to at; open teammate.
bringing the Lions within six
points 23-29.
With less than 30 seconds to go
in the first half, Nowacinski
drove to the hoop and made a
layup while being tbuled on the
play. Nowacinski took advantage
of the three point play opportuni
ty by making the free throw.
The Behrend Lions were clown
five points 30-35 going into the
locker room. Nowacinski scored
nine points in the first half.
"I talked to our team at hall
time about playing not to lose,"
said Fomari. "We were not play
ing with the aggressiveness we
talked about needed to win the
game. The team responded well
and scored 54 points in the last 20
minutes to win."
Behrend made the score 36-37
in the beginning minutes of the
second half by awing six points
scored off of layups from Engel,
Oldach, and Nowacinski.
At the 17:23 mark, Engel hit a
shot from behind the arc and
Richardson followed with a layup
which put the Lady Lions behind
41-43.
Behrend went on a 14-3 run and
took the lead at 54-53 by a layup
scored by Engel with under 11
minutes to play.
The Panthers regained the lead,
but Engel answered with a three
pointer at the 4:55 mark to put
The Behrend Beacon I 11
the Lions up 64-63.
With 2:44 remaining in the
game, Engel hit another crucial
shot from three point territory
making the score 74-68. Pitt-
Bradford could not catch up the
Lady Lions who went on to win
84-74.
"I liked the ellbrt in the second
half." said Fomari. "I like the
fight and the desire our team
showed. This team doesn't give
in or give up. They played a very
intentional and smart second half.
We played some of our best bas
ketball our team has played in the
twenty minutes of that game."
Engel also believed that the
team's second half performance
was better than the first.
"We started out kind of slow
the first half and weren't being as
aggressive as we would have
liked," said Engel. "But the sec
ond half we really put some runs
together and played more like we
were capable of and ended up with
a good win.-
Four players for the Lady Lions
scored in double digits. Engel
had a game high of 21 points,
Nowacinski scored 19,
Richardson contributed 17, while
Oldach atkkd 12.
was just glad that I could per
form for the team and help us to
win an important game," said
Engel. "We had a lot of fun."