PSLypporte
Gmce
By MARUJA ROSARIO
Editor in Chief
MXR3OO@PSU.EDU
As Penn State prepares to play
the Tennessee Volunteers in the
Outback Bowl on January 1, 2007,
I wanted to reflect on the amazing
rebuilding season we just had.
However, instead of regurgitating
statistics and big plays, I am going
to do it through my
own experiences.
I had the ability to watch one
Penn State game on television,
Penn State vs. Akron. I remember
being snuggled in my blanket on
my couch watching the new Lions
taking their opponent. The game
was not a clean one, but it was a
victory all the same. This would
prove to be the slogan of the season.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we still won.”
After that game, I spent the rest
of the season with my cellphone
tucked up in my bodice waiting
for the vibration that indicated I
had a text message. (I work at the
Renaissance Faire, so don’t get
any ideas.) I had registered for
text message updates about Penn
State sports late in the summer, and
within 30 seconds of the game’s
end, a text message would be sent
to me telling me the final score.
Side note: The service also alerts
me to traffic delays up at
University Park.
So it was with anticipation that I
awaited the text message that would
tell me the score between Notre
Dame and Penn State. Even though
I knew it was bleak, I was still
banking on the theory that greater
comebacks have been made in
sports history.
That loss cost me a lot of dignity
at work, as I had talked up the
Lions for weeks.
Ohio State was next, and I looked
forward to the challenge. We lost
to Notre Dame, but we could take
Ohio State. For whatever reason,
I managed to get home to see a
bit of the game, and almost cried.
That was when I realized that I
did not care for Anthony Morelli
as quarterback, and that Ohio
State could go fornicate under the
consent of the king themselves.
Next, I went up to my first Penn
State game ever, Penn State vs.
Northwestern. To actually see the
Lions take the field and play under
my very nose was the most amazing
moment in my long Penn State
history. It was also a good thing that
JoePa wears khaki pants; otherwise
I would have never spotted him
from as high as we were.
A few more text message game
updates later and I was at the
crowning moment of the season.
I had purchased season tickets
because there had been this great
plan for all my friends to go up
to as many games together as we
could, but in the end only I got
the tickets. I sold a few of them to
people, but the Michigan ticket
was mine.
It took some convincing from
Matt Sarver, but I finally decided
to go instead of giving him my
ticket. I rode up with my boss and
his brother and we did a bit of
tailgating in the frigid, bitter State
College weather. That was a White
Out game, so we all had our
white on.
I walked to my standing seat with
the seniors and shook my white
pompom with joy. I went alone to
the section but left making friends
with the people around me. We lost
that day, but I still learned what
Penn State is really about. Coming
together over your love of Lions.
It seems like just yesterday I was
dancing over getting my tickets
in the mail, and now here we are,
getting ready for the Outback
Bowl. Though the season wasn’t as
glamorous as we would have liked
( and our revenge on Michigan has
yet to be exacted), we still kicked
ass and we can still be proud. And
as our fight song says, “We’re ever
true to you, dear old White
and Blue.”
PSH basketball takes the court
By MEGAN RESSER
Sports Reporter
MKRIS7@PSU.EDU
On Nov. 14, the PSH women’s
and men’s basketball teams played
in their first home double-header of
the season against Lancaster Bible
College. The Lady Lions began
their game with an incredible level
of intensity, holding their opponents
scoreless throughout the first five
minutes of the first half. By the time
the first ten mins, of play had gone
by, PSH was winning 21-2. Seniors
Jamie Brindle and Brooke Conjar led
the scoring for PSH in the first half
with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
PSH was winning the game 51-8
at halftime.
During the 2nd half, PSH never
let up, playing with the same high
level of intensity until the last buzzer
sounded. This first home game
allowed the ladies to showcase their
great propensity to work well together
as a team with five players scoring
in the double digits. Conjar finished
with 22 points, Brindle finished
with 19, senior Nicole Adams had
16, freshman Jamie Bissot had 12,
and grad student Amanda Mentzer
chipped in 10 points of her own.
The final team score was PSH-92,
The women's basketball team gave their all during the
Lancaster Bible College game, winning 92 to 26.
Lancaster Bible College-26.
The PSH men’s team hoped to
duplicate this success as they took
the floor for their own game, but
this, unfortunately, was not going
to happen for them that evening.
Lancaster Bible College took the
lead and never looked back. The
score was PSH-26, Lancaster Bible
76ers get stomped by
Minnesota Timberwolves
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ The
Minnesota Timberwolves didn’t
even need Kevin Garnett in the
fourth quarter.
The way Ricky Davis and Mike
James were taking turns knocking
down clutch shots against the
Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota’s
superstar hardly had to worry about
making a contribution.
Davis scored 14 of his 22 points
in the fourth quarter and Gamen
added 15 points and 14 rebounds to
lead Minnesota to a 95-84 win over
Philadelphia on Sunday night.
“We knew coming into the fourth we
wanted to make a bigger push, take the
lead and be aggressive,” said Garnett,
who didn’t score in the final period.
Minnesota did all three, and the
Sixers were left with their fourth
straight loss.
James and Davis combined to lead
the Timberwolves’ push, combining
to score 23 of Minnesota’s 27 fourth
quarter points to help them get a
road win for only the third time in
nine games. James finished with 20
points and made three 3-pointers in
the quarter.
“When someone comes up and plays
big in the fourth, that’s what we need,”
Davis said.
The Sixers had no answer down the
stretch after a tight first three quarters.
Allen Iverson, fined last week
for skipping a bowling event, led
the Sixers with 26 points. Samuel
Dalembert had 15 points and nine
College-38 at halftime. Despite
strong performances from junior
Abe Hitz and senior Nealy Rawlings,
the PSH men couldn’t quite match
the excellent passing and shooting
of the Lancaster Bible squad. The
final score ended up being PSH-61,
Lancaster Bible College-76. Hitz
finished with an impressive 30 points,
and Rawlings was close behind with
The men's basketball team just played their first home
double-header this season. Although they suffered a loss,
they hope to improve and win the game against Wilkes-
Barre on Dec. 6.
22 points of his own.
The men and women both traveled
to respective tournaments the
weekend following these games. The
women suffered an incredibly tough
59-60 loss in the semifinals to Wilkes
College and then didn’t quite look
like they were
ready to play in
the consolation
disappointing results at these
tournaments, the teams turned right
back around on Nov. 21 and both
won decisive victories over visiting
Penn State Worthington Scranton in
the second home double-header of
the season. The men’s team then lost
a tough away game to non-PSUAC
Div. II opponent, Millersville, on Nov.
rebounds, and Chris Webber 11
points and nine rebounds. The Sixers
have lost 11 of 13 since starting the
season 3-0
“I don’t have any answers for what’s
going on,” Iverson said. “We’re
not having no fun out there on the
basketball court. That has a lot to do
with losing.”
This time, it was Davis’ turn to extend
Philadelphia’s misery.
When Davis wasn’t jawing with
taunting front-row fans, he was
knocking down baskets from all over
the court to boost Minnesota’s lead
early in the fourth. He opened the
quarter with an 18-footer, hit his first
3-pointer of the game, and sank two
free throws for a 75-67 lead.
Davis enjoyed the give-and-take with
the Philly faithful.
“Yeah, it was nice,” he said.
“It got me going a little bit and I
appreciate it.”
When Davis converted a three-point
play late in the fourth, he gave the
Timberwolves something to really
appreciate, their first double-digit
lead, 83-73.
Iverson and Garnett carried their
teams for most of the first three
quarters in a tight game where neither
team could build a lead larger than
six points. Davis sank an 18-footer
in the final minute of the third to help
put the Timberwolves ahead entering
the fourth.
“This is not the way it was supposed
to be,” Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks
said. “It’s not what 1 envisioned. Our
effort on the floor tonight wasn’t good
enough. We’re still searching for
an answer.”
27, and both teams faced off against
PSUAC foes Penn State Hazleton in
another home double-header on Nov.
30. Unfortunately, the Lions from
Hazleton came out on top in both
contests. The PSH women lost by a
close 77-71 score and the men’s team
lost the second game of the night by a
score of 71 -61.
On Dec. 2, both teams traveled to
Mont Alto for
PSUAC contests.
The PSH women
division record to 1-2.
By the time this issue is printed, the
men’s team will have played a home
contest against Penn State Wilkes-
Barre on Dec. 6, and both teams
will have traveled to tournaments on
Dec. Bth and 9th. Both teams return
home for a double-header against
Penn State Abington on Dec. 11 with
the women playing at 6pm and the
men following around Bpm. Before
the end of the fall semester, the men
have a home game at 7pm on Dec.
13 versus Penn State Dußois, while
the women travel that evening to
Northampton Community College
for a 6pm start. Dec. 16 will be the
last opportunity of the semester to
watch both teams at home when
they play a double-header against
Wilkes University with the women
starting at Ipm and the men starting
around 3pm.
game the next
day, losing to
Mt. Aloysius
91-73. The men
also had a tough
time in their
tournament,
losing to
Elizabethtown
College in the
semifinal game
and DeSales
University in the
consolation
game.
The women’s team will have their
first game of the spring semester at
Lancaster Bible College on Jan. 18
with a 6pm start and the men’s team
will have their first spring semester
game at home versus Penn State
McKeesport at Ipm on Jan. 20. Full
schedules can be found by following
the Intercollegiate Athletics link on
the Penn State Harrisburg website.
Please come out and support your
PSH Lions!
Despite
came out on top
with a decisive
70-21 victory,
bringing their
overall record
to 3-3 and their
division record
to 2-1. The men’s
team then lost a
tough game by a
score of 79-71,
bringing their
overall record
to 1-6 and their
/ m
.. : 'lt* Capital Times rieecte sports writers.
Please see Maruja Rosario and Matthew Mahoney In 126£
Steelers bruise the Browns and
break records in the process
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The weather
was nasty, windy, miserable. For
Willie Parker, it was a record
cold night.
Parker broke the Steelers’ single
game rushing record with 223 yards,
a game better than either Franco
Harris or Jerome Bettis enjoyed,
and Pittsburgh excelled as usual in
inferior weather by roughing up the
offense-less Cleveland Browns 27-7
Thursday night.
Parker, the first player in Steelers
history to have two 200-yard
games in a season, broke John
“Frenchy” Fuqua’s record of 218
yards against Philadelphia in
1970, two years before Fuqua was
the intended receiver on Harris’
famous Immaculate Reception
against Oakland.
Parker broke Fuqua’s record early
in the fourth quarter and might have
approached 300 yards if the game
had been closer. Because it was a
Browns-Steelers game in December
it wasn’t, no surprise there.
The Steelers (6-7) withstood
temperatures in the teens, a wind
chill that was below zero in the
second half and an occasional
snow flake to win their seventh
in a row against their Rust Belt
rival, following up a 41-0 rout in
Cleveland last December and a 24-
20 comeback victory last month in
Cleveland. Pittsburgh is one of the
NFL’s best clubs when the weather
gets bad and the games usually are
more important, going 21-6 past
Dec. 1 since 2001.
For the Browns (4-9), this time of
the year simply is a case of going
from bad to worse. Assured now
of their fourth consecutive losing
season, they are 2-11 in December
the last three seasons.
Parker went over the 1,000-yard
mark for the second season in a row
on Pittsburgh’s opening drive and
kept on going, following up his 213-
yard game against New Orleans on
Nov. 12. He had been limited to 129
yards in his last three games, but
there was no stopping him Thursday
as he helped lead the Steelers’ two
longest drives of the season.
Parker, a non-drafted free agent
Hey PSU Sports fans!
Do you tike going to watch PSH sports events?
Do you think you have something to say?
So scream it!
By ALAN ROBINSON
Associated Press
three years ago, ran for 26 yards on
five carries during a 97-yard drive
ended by Ben Roethlisberger’s 49-
yard TD pass to Nate Washington
that made it 7-0 during the
first quarter.
Later, Roethlisberger (11-of-21,
225 yards) finished off a 91-yard
drive with a 2-yard bootleg TD
run, crossing up a Browns defense
that was expecting Parker to get
the ball.
Cleveland never did find a way
to slow down a Steelers running
game that only two weeks ago was
limited to 21 yards in a 27-0 loss to
Baltimore. Pittsburgh gained 304
yards on the ground for the night,
the Browns just 18.
Parker also had a 3-yard TD run
on a 74-yard drive during the third
quarter as the Steelers continued to
wear down the Browns.
Cleveland appeared to be headed
toward its second shutout loss in
three weeks until Derek Anderson,
making his first NFL start for the
injured Charlie Frye, threw a 45-
yard TD pass to Braylon Edwards
with 5:20 remaining. Anderson
couldn’t replicate his dramatic
debut Sunday when he threw two
TD passes to lead a 31-28 overtime
win over Kansas City.
Until then, the Steelers hadn’t
allowed a touchdown on defense in
nine quarters, or since the second
quarter in Baltimore. Pittsburgh beat
Tampa Bay and its inexperienced
quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski,
20-3 on Sunday.
The only trouble with this latest
Steelers late-season surge is it
apparently comes too late to save a
season that was all but over after the
Super Bowl champions lost six of
their first eight.
Fittingly enough given Parker’s
big night, it was this week a year
ago that Bettis, in one of the most
memorable runs of his long career,
ran through Bears linebacker Brian
Urlacher during a 5-yard TD run
on a snow-covered field. That
score keyed a 21-9 Steelers victory
that began their drive to the Super
Bowl.
The announced crowd of 55,246
was about 10,000 below Heinz
Field’s capacity, and there weren’t
nearly that many fans around even
by the third quarter.